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WITH 
AZIR GIRGES 



IN EGYPT 




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WALTER SCOTT PERKf 







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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



WITH 

AZIR GIRGES 

IN EGYPT 





HIHHHHBH 



AN EGYI'TIAN TEMPLE PYLON 



WITH AZIR GIRGES 
IN EGYPT 



BY 



WALTER SCOTT PERRY, M. A. 

DIRECTOR SCHOOL OF FINE AND APPLIED ARTS PRATT INSTITUTE. 

LECTURER ON THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE 

AND PAINTING. AUTHOR "eGYPT THE LAND OF THE 

TEMPLE BUILDERS." HONORARY SECRETARY 

EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND. 




ATKINSON, MENTZER & COMPANY 

Boston New York Chicago Dallas 



y%w 



Copyright 1913 
By WALTER SCOTT PERRY 



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••• 



©CI.A332809 



fairjiela and Ajerton 

xoho love io much stories of 
' other lands, and who always 
want just one more, this stont 
of Qy^xir Girges in Egypt 
if ajfectionatelii dedicated. 




retaceJ 



THE author of this hook seeks to 
interest American boys and girls in 
the country of Egypt; in the village 
and home life of the Egyptian children 
of the present day; and in the remark- 
able civilization of Egypt of olden times, 
when the pyramids and the greatest tem- 
ples of the world were built, and when 
many kinds of beautiful things were made 
by the people who dwelt upon the banks 
of the River Nile. The many places of 
interest in that wonderful country are 
visited with Azir Gir^es, the donkey boy 



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MAP OF EGYPT 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I The Home OF AziR GiRGES 13 

II How THE People Live in Egypt 19 

An Egyptian Town 19 

Children of Egypt 23 

Water-Carriers of the Nile 26 

Camels and Caravans 31 

HI The Land of the Nile 35 

The Great River 35 

Plowing, Planting, and Harvesting in Egypt . . 41 

IV Great Mounds and Temples 47 

How the Mounds were Formed 47 

The Temple of Edfu 52 

V Early Egyptian Writing 59 

VI Old Egypt 65 

The Great Pyramids 65 

The Pyramids and the Sphinx 73 

Picture Stories of Old Eg}'pt 76 

VII Religion of the Ancient Egyptians .... 80 

Horus, the Morning Sun-God 80 

Ra, the Noonday Sun-God 84 

VIII Temples and Temple Builders 90 

The Great Temples of Karnak 90 

The Great King Ramses II 98 

An Obelisk in the Making 105 

IX The Wonderful Statues of Memnon . . . iii 

X Temples and Storehouses 119 

Queen Hatasu's Temple 119 

Egyptian Boats 123 

XI Amulets, Ornaments and Jewelry . . . . 12S 

7 



8 Contents 

XII The Tombs of the Kings 137 

Sacred Wall Paintings 137 

How Egyptian Children Learned to Draw . . 142 

Egyptian Furniture 147 

XIII The City of Cairo 151 

Street Scenes, Shops, and Craftsmen . . » . 151 

Mohammedan Schools 157 

A Sunset in Eg^^pt 161 

XIV AziR GiRGEs's Letter 165 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

An Egyptian Temple P34oin Frontispiece 

Map of Egypt . 6 

The Town of Luxor where Azir Girges Lives .... 12 

The Street Leading up to Azir Girges's House .... 13 

The Street on Which Azir Girges Lives 14 

The Home of Azir Girges 15 

Azir Girges and His Donkey 16 

A Town in Egypt 19 

The Market-Place 20 

The River Bank at Luxor 21 

An Egyptian Village 23 

The Children's Sleeping Place 25 

Women with Water Jars 27 

Men with Water Skins 28 

Water Sellers 29 

Camels Laden with Wood 31 

The Brother of Azir Girges 33 

A Caravan in the Desert 34 

The Temple of Karnak 36 

View from the Pylon of Karnak 37 

A Town Surrounded by the Nile 39 

Plowing in Egypt 41 

A Field Ready for Planting 42 

Men Dipping Water from the Nile 43 

An Egyptian Well 45 

Threshing Grain , . 46 

Mound and Temple Wall 48 

A Temple nearly Buried in a Mound 49 

Policeman on Wall of Temple 50 

Temple Colonnade at Philae 51 

Excavating an Egyptian Temple ......... 53 

The Temple of Edfu 54 

The Sanctuary in the Temple of Edfu 55 

View from Pylon of Edfu 57 

Egyptian Hieroglyphics 60 

9 



10 List of Illustrations 

The Rosetta Stone 62 

Papyrus Roll Showing Egyptian Writing 64 

The Road to the Pyramids 65 

The Pyramids from the Field . . . - ... 66 

Another View of the Pyramids 67 

The Great Pyramid of Khufu 69 

Climbing the Great Pyramid 70 

View of Delta from Top of Pyramid 71 

View of Desert from Top of Pyramid 72 

The Sphinx and the Pyramids 74 

The Temple of the Sphinx 76 

Traveling in the Desert 77 

Arrival at an Ancient Tomb 78 

Picture Stories on Wall of Tomb 79 

Hathor and Horus, Horus the Morning Sun-God ... 81 

Ra, the Noonday Sun-God 86 

Kings Making Offerings 88 

Avenue of Approach to Temples of Karnak 91 

The Temple of Khonsu 93 

The Great Hall of Columns and Obelisk, Karnak ... 94 

The Ancient Avenue of Sphinxes 95 

Drawings on Wall of Sanctuary at Karnak 97 

Dahabiyeh and Temple of Luxor 99 

The Front Wall of the Temple of Luxor 100 

Statues and Hall of Columns, Temple of Luxor .... 101 

Temple of Abu-Simbel and Statues of Ramses H . . . 103 

Statue of Ramses H , . 104 

A Caravan on the Desert Highway 106 

Freight Boats on the Nile 107 

An Obelisk in the Quarry 108 

Top of an Obelisk with Picture-Writing 109 

A Ferry-Boat on the Nile Ill 

Landing on the River Bank 112 

Statues of Memnon at Time of Overflow of Nile . . . 114 

The Great Statues of Memnon 115 



List of Illustrations 11 

Sandstone Cliffs of the Desert 116 

The Broken Statue of Ramses II 118 

Storehouses and the Desert .... .o,. o.. 119 

Der-el-Bahri, Queen Hatasu's Temple . . « , . . . 121 

Picture-Writing, Der-el-Bahri 122 

Pictures of Boats Sent to Land of Punt 124 

Picture of a Boat on a Temple Wall 126 

Model Boat Three Thousand Years Old 127 

Natives Selling Amulets 129 

Scarab Belonging to Seti I 130 

Scarab of Seti I Enlarged 131 

Egyptian Jewelry Thirty-five Hundred Years Old . . . 133 

Egyptian Amulets 135 

The Road to the Tombs .136 

The Cliffs and Tombs 137 

Arrival at the Tombs 138 

Egyptian Girls at Entrance to Ancient Tomb 139 

Tomb of King Seti I Covered with Wall Paintings . . . 140 

An Unfinished Drawing of a Ram 143 

Painting on Wall of an Ancient Tomb 145 

An Ancient Egyptian Drawing 146 

An Ancient Eg5^ptian Couch 147 

An Ancient Egyptian Chair 148 

An Ancient Egyptian Embroidery Stand 149 

The Suez Canal 151 

A Street in Cairo 153 

A Shop in Cairo 155 

A Mohammedan Woman 157 

A Mohammedan School 158 

Students in the Cairo University 159 

A Page from a Mohammedan Book 160 

View of Cairo and the Pyramids 161 

A Village near the Pyramids 162 

Looking across the Nile toward the West at Luxor . . . 163 

Azir Girges on a Camel 164 




K - 

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^ y 




THE STREET I.EAniNG T"P TO AZIR GIRGES-'S HOUSE 



CHAPTER I 



THE HOME OF AZIR GIRGES 



Azir Girges lives in Luxor. He lives in a mud 
house on one of the main streets and that is where we 
are to visit him on this very hot day in February. 

In the picture we see the street leading up to Azir 
Girges's house. Close by sits an old woman with 
her flat loaves of unleavened bread spread out in the 
dusty road for their first baking in the hot sun. A 
queer kitchen, isn't it? and not very clean. 

A little farther up the street, and on each side, 
there are high walls of crude hand-made bricks. On 
the right side of the street w^e come to a wooden door 
set in the mud wall. Azir is there to welcome us and 

13 



14 



The Home of Azir Girges 



he proudly shows us into the house, where we are 
introduced to his mother and his sister Louise. What 
a strange house this would seem to be to an American 
girl or boy! Within the walls are several little al- 




THE STREET ON WHICH AZIR GIRGES LIVES 



coves or rooms. Here the hens, the doves, the don- 
keys, and the family live together. 

A tall, hollow mud cylinder stands near the middle 
of the court. It is filled with grain for food. We 
look for chairs and beds and other ordinary comforts, 
but do not find them. Here is a platform made of 
earth near the center of the room. 

"What is this, Azir?" \yc ask, pointing to it. 

"That is the bed where my father sleeps," he re- 
plies. 

You see, Azir has learned to speak English fairly 



The Home of Azir Girges 



i.-; 



•"« nt't * * • • * 





or 



THE HOME OF AZIU GIRGES 



well. He has been to the Mission School of Luxor 
and he has also been a donkey boy for a number of 
years, thus meeting daily through the winter months 
many English and American travelers, and he has 
acquired many English words. 

"But where do you and your brothers sleep?" we 
inquire curiously. 

''Oh, on the roof, and around," is his reply. 

These simple, kind people are always ready to give 
their visitors something of the little which they have, 
and Azir's mother immediately takes her best dress 
from the hempen rope that stretches across one of 
the small alcove rooms. How the dust flies as she 
pulls it from the line where it has hung for a long 



16 



The Home of Azir Girges 




AZiK Gii;i:i;s and his huxkey 



time just above the dirt floor! She presents the dress 
to one of the ladies of the party, who declines to take 
it, in the most polite manner possible, for it is offered 
in the kindly spirit shown by the people of the East. 

Little Louise, a dark-skinned, pretty girl, hurries 
toward a small closet in the wall. Its door is about a 
foot square. In the closet Louise keeps the school- 
books that have been given to her at the Mission 
School. But something else is stored away in that 
closet; it is a shawl w^hich she has been taught to 
crochet. It must be her chief treasure, the work of 
her busy little fingers, but she brings it out and 
politely presents it to one of the visitors. 

Now, true courtesy in Egypt requires that some 
one of the things presented shall be kept, so the little 
shawl is taken away, only to be returned to Louise on 



The Home of Azir Girges 17 

the last day of our. stay in Luxor. We of course 
shall tell her that it has been greatly enjoyed and that 
we now wish to have the pleasure of presenting it in 
turn to her. It is an ancient custom among orientals 
to give a guest the pleasure of enjoying some treasure 
of the family, and later of returning it or some equiv- 
alent gift. Louise is made very happy by the present 
of a brightly-printed cotton dress purchased in the 
market-place, and of money to pay her tuition at 
school for another year. 

We are next invited to go upstairs to a room built 
on the roof of one part of the house. Here we get a 
good view of the interior of the home. How strange 
some of the walls look! They are made of large 
earthen jars laid in rows one over another, the spaces 
between the jars being filled with mud. 

While we are standing here, we notice Azir's 
mother taking some small unwashed cups out of an- 
o*ther cupboard in the mud wall. 

''What is your mother doing, Azir?" we ask. 

''She is preparing coffee for you," he replies. 

"But where is the stove?" 

Azir points to a small mound of dried earth shaped 
like a beehive, in the court below. It has a small 
door and a space within for the fire. 

No wood is used in building the fire, for these 
poor people have no wood. There are no forests in 
Egypt, so there are no trees to cut down for fire-wood 
or for building material. Here and there palm- 
groves protect the villages from the great heat 



18 The Home of Azir Girges 

of the sun. But it would not do to cut down those 
trees, as they are needed for shade. So these poor 
families burn the dry refuse of the stable-yard and 
the dovecote. 

With this poor fuel Azir's mother is making the 
fire and slowly preparing the coffee. It is not pleas- 
ant to drink the coffee, for the cups are very dirty. 
We hesitate and Azir says, 

''You must take coffee. You always say 'No' when 
you come here. The last time you said you could not 
stop, as you were in a hurry to go to the temple of 
Karnak. Today you have much time, so you must 
take coffee with us." 

It is hard to disappoint these people when they 
have done everything in their power to entertain 
their guests. To refuse their hospitality causes them 
pain; for they are true and loyal, courteous and kind. 

We know that the ancient Egyptians were very 
courteous because of such words as these written more 
than thirty-five hundred years ago: 

"Do not remain sitting when thy elder, or thy superior, is 
standing." 

"Be not discourteous to the stranger who is in thy house. 
He is thy guest." 




A TOWN IX EGYPT 



CHAPTER II 

HOW THE PEOPLE LIVE IN EGYPT 

AX EGYPTIAX TOWN 

What a strange picture this is, of a town in Egypt! 
It is very much like the village that Azir Girges 
lives in. We see a few houses that look comfortable, 
but most of the people live in houses that are simply 
walls of mud held in place by sticks driven into the 
ground. 

Sometimes the walls are made of small bricks of 
mud mixed with straw. The bricks are first dried in 
the sun, but they do not get hard like the burnt bricks 
with which we build our houses. They are laid one 
upon another, making high walls that enclose one 
large room or court. 

19 



20 



How the People Live in Egypt 



That large room has no roof, but the owner usually 
builds other little rooms against the wall and covers 
them with straw and corn-stalks. It seldom rains in 
Egypt; therefore a roof of this kind is all that is 
needed to keep out the hot sun. Sometimes a roof is 




THE MAKKET-PLACE 



made of mud bricks and curved in the form of an 
arch or vault shaped like a half-barrel, as you may 
see in the picture. 

In rooms like those described boys and girls live 
with their parents, and it often happens that their 
donkeys and other animals live with them in the large 
room. The rooms have no floor of wood. The earth 
is the floor and is so dry that it becomes very dusty. 



Hew the People Live in Egypt 



21 




THE RIVER BAXK AT LUXOR 



The dust is often several inches deep and the dirt 
flies everywhere. The village streets also are very 
dusty. The sun is hot and even in winter the days 
are very warm. But there are beautiful palm-trees 
in some of the towns, and their shade is enjoyed by 
the boys and girls who run about and play, just as 
boys and girls do in America. 

In its center, or sometimes just outside the town, is 
the market-place, w^here people meet to trade in food, 
animals, and clothing. The people live mostly on 
bread made from wheat flour, and on corn, barley, 
rice, lentils, beans, and other vegetables. They need 
but little clothing because of the heat, the climate 



22 How the People Live in Egypt 

being very warm most of the year. As they live in 
the sun all their lives, their skin is of a beautiful 
bronze color. 

It is a curious sight to see the people on market 
day, for everyone from all the nearby villages seems 
to be going to market. The main road is over the 
mud-bank of the river Nile. A strange and long pro- 
cession stretches away toward the market-place. 
Men, women, and children hurry along, their loose 
clothing fluttering in the fresh wind of the morning. 

There are animals of many kinds and sizes in the 
procession, including camels, donkeys, buffaloes, 
cows, calves, sheep, and goats. The camels are often 
so heavily laden that they look like great bundles 
walking along the river-bank. Little donkeys stagger 
under their burdens of vegetables, grain, and live 
chickens. There are men with great travs of flat 
round loaves of bread, which they hope to sell before 
nightfall. There are cows and goats to be milked in 
the open market, so that the purchasers may have a 
fresh supply of warm milk. 

The market-place itself is the center of interest to 
everyone. Many go there to buy and to sell; many 
just to see the sights and to talk with friends. To- 
ward sunset the long procession returns and all go 
back contented and happy to their homes in the little 
mud villages. 



Hois: the People Live in Egypt 



23 




AN EGYPTIAN VILLAGE 



CHILDREN OF EGYPT 



What a beautiful group of palm-trees this is! 
They grow by a small reservoir which is filled with 
water from the Nile. Under the trees are Azir 
Girges and his old gray donkey. The donkey's sad- 
dle, as you see, is very large. It is padded in front, 
and therefore is very thick. Perhaps the padding is 
to keep his rider from sliding ofi when the donkey 
falls down. 

The poor donkey's legs are not very strong. His 
knees are weak, and often when he is made to trot 
with a heavy rider on his back his legs suddenly give 
out, and down he goes. Then what do you think 



24 How the People Live in Egypt 

happens? The man on his back has to be quick if 
he would jump, but often he has no time to jump, and 
he goes over the donkey's head to the ground. The 
man and the donkey look very much ashamed as 
they scramble to their feet again. The straps are then 
tightened around the donkey's body to hold the saddle 
on more firmly, and again the rider jumps to the back 
of the little animal. 

We see two little boys in the picture. One is sit- 
ting on the ground and the other is standing by the 
head of the white donkev. Their dress is verv much 
like that of the girl who has her hand up to her face. 
She does not wish to have her photograph taken. 
Girls and women in Egypt do not like to have men 
take photographs of them. They usually cover their 
faces whenever they meet men on the street. 

Nearly all the boys and men wear long blue or 
white gowns that look very much like the dresses of 
women. The woman in the picture holds a basket 
on her head. She can carry the basket in that wav 
when it is full. She does not have to balance it with 
her hands. 

Across the water is the village of Karnak. All its 
houses seem to be made of mud and sun-dried bricks. 
In some of them which have no roofs we see large 
cylinders of dried mud. The cylinders are store- 
closets. Perhaps they are used for storing grain un- 
til it is needed by the family. 

Some of the cylinders have tops that look like great 
bowls. This cvlinder has a hole in the side. We 



How the People Live in Egypt 



25 




THE CHILDItEX S SLEEPING PLACE 



shall ask Azir what it is used for. What do you sup- 
pose he says? He tells us that this is the room where 
the small children sleep at night. Their parents put 
them into the cylinder through the hole and then 
close it. The children are thus safe for the night. 
They cannot fall out of bed, and jackals or other ani- 
mals cannot trouble them. 

If the children wake up they may amuse them- 
selves by looking up at the many stars. The stars are 
very bright indeed, because there are no clouds or 
rain and the air is very clear. There is no need of a 
light. The children go to bed early, for they must be 
up before it gets hot in the bright sun. 



26 Hoin: the People Live in Egypt 

Perhaps the children are sometimes kept awake by 
the barking of dogs. There are a great many dogs in 
the little Egyptian villages, and they bark wildly at 
night. If we ride on our donkeys through a village 
street at night, we shall find no lights in the street 
and but few in the houses, yet the place will seem 
alive with dogs. And oh, how they do bark! Every- 
one in these towns, it would seem, keeps dogs. The 
dogs do not get much to eat and they are very lean 
and miserable. 

Poor people that have very little themselves al- 
ways seem to keep dogs. One would think them so 
poor that they would not try to take care of animals. 
But the fact that they do, shows that however poor 
people may be, they still have in their hearts a place 
for helpless creatures. People do not have to be 
rich to be kind. Poor people can be just as kind 
as rich people and if they are very kind they will 
be happy. 

So, let us remember that the men and women, and 
boys and girls, in these mud villages of Egypt are not 
unhappy. They love one another and are fond of 
their animals, and they are kind to strangers and to 
travelers. 

WATER-CARRIERS OF THE NILE 

The water of the river Nile is very muddy. It 
does not look like pure water that may be good to 
drink, yet Azir and all the other people living in the 
towns along the river must get their daily supply 



How the People Live in Egypt 



n 




WOMEN WITH WATER JARS 



from it. So, in the early morning and evening 
hours, we find men, women, and children, among 
them doubtless Azir's family, wading into the river 
to fill their jars and water bags. They do not seem 
to mind walking in the w^ater and stirring it up till 
it is even muddier than it was before they came. 

The women fill large earthen jars, which they 
skillfully balance on their heads. They can carry 
those jars full of water on their heads to the village, 
without touching them with their hands. 

The men have leather bags made of the skins of 
animals which they fill with water and carry upon 
their backs. The bags are supported by a rope hung 
over the left shoulder. All the water used in the 



28 



Hoiv the People Live in Egypt 




MKN wrnr watkr skin; 



villages for washing, cooking, and drinking must be 
carried from the river in such earthen jars and 
leather bags. 

The water is warm when first drawn from the 
river, but after it is put into porous earthen jars it 
becomes cool in a short time. That is the way in 
which people get cool water for drinking purposes, 
in hot countries where there is no ice. The jars are 
porous and a little of the water oozes through to 
the outside surfaces, and evaporates. In evaporat- 
ing, the water gives ofif so quickly the heat which 
has been absorbed from the sun's rays that the jar 
becomes cool and so cools the water. 

Every day men go about the streets of Luxor and 
other towns with drinking-water to sell. They 
carry it in large earthen bottles that hang from their 



How the People Live in Egypt 



29 




WATER SELLERS 



shoulders, as seen in the picture. One of the boys 
in the picture has a water-jar on his shoulder and the 
other boy has just had his cup filled from it. Some- 



30 Ho^v the People Live in Egypt 

times the water is sweetened to give it a pleasant 
flavor like our soda water. 

In some of the larger towns men water the streets 
by sprinkling water from a leather bag carried on 
the back, for the ground is covered with fine earth 
that is very dry. 

Nearly everyone in the small towns in Egypt 
goes barefoot. In the evening when the men and 
boys wish to bathe, they go down to the river near 
the places where they get their supply of drinking- 
water. It makes no difference whether or not peo- 
ple are filling their water bottles there. They do 
not think the water dirty. They regard it as sweet 
and clean, because it comes from the great river that 
means so much to them. 

The ancient Egyptians used to believe that there 
was a great god of the Nile. They knew that their 
lives were absolutely dependent upon the river and 
its yearly overflow. Without that overflow there 
could be no crops and no food for them. But they 
could not understand whv the river should overflow 
its banks every summer. So they thought that there 
must be a god who watched carefully over the waters 
of the Nile, bringing life to the people of Egypt. 
They were very grateful indeed, and they showed 
their gratitude in their hymns and songs as well as 
in various other ways, as in these words: 

"Shine forth, shine forth, O Nile ! shine forth ! 
Giving life to men by his oxen ; 
Giving life to his oxen by the pastures! 
Shine forth in glory, O Nile." 



How the People Live in Egypt 



31 




CAMELS LADEN WITH WOOD 



CAMELS AND CARAVANS 



The camel in this picture is laden with wood. 
There is not much wood in Egypt that can be used 
for fire-wood, and when a tree dies or is cut down 
men dig out its roots, that no wood may be wasted. 
The wood on this camel is bound by ropes around 
his body. It is a cruel load, for the ugly roots must 
hurt him very much. 

The people of Egypt have few carts or wagons 
and heavy loads must be carried on the backs of 
camels and donkeys. In that way all the grass and 
grain and all the vegetables and fruits are carried 
from place to place. In the picture Azir Girges's 



32 How the People Live in Egypt 

brother is driving his camel through the town. The 
bridle is simply a noose of rope put around the 
camel's head just above its nose. The noose is kept 
in place by a smaller rope slipped back of the ears. 
The boy has a leading-rope in his hand and carries 
a whip made of rope. The bags of netting sup- 
ported by the wooden frame upon the camel's back 
are to hold the load of goods that Azir's brother is 
to get in a near-by village. 

Can you imagine how the boy got upon the camel's 
back? When the boy wants to get on or ofif the 
camel, he makes the animal kneel down and the 
camel then drops his huge body gradually to the 
ground. Then the boy can easily mount or dis- 
mount. When the camel rises, he seems to unfold 
his hind legs part way, and then his front legs, 
and then his hind legs again, so that his body sways 
first one way and then another. If one is not care- 
ful, there is danger of being thrown off the camel's 
back when he rises to start on his journey. 

In some parts of the desert of Sahara great cara- 
vans may be seen. They consist of a large com- 
pany of merchants using camels to carry their goods. 
Formerly caravans furnished the only method of 
bringing merchandise from the interior of the coun- 
try to the coast. Many men traveling together in 
a caravan can pass in safety over the unprotected 
highways of the East, which are often infested with 
robbers. If no village is near, they pitch their 
tents in a large group, when they rest at night. 




THE BliOTIIER OF AZIR UIRCiES 



34 



How the People Live in Egypt 




A CAItAVAN IX THE DESEUT 



Caravans form a very interesting picture. The 
men, some riding and others walking beside their 
camels, are dressed in the white flowing robes of the 
East. Camels are often called "ships of the desert." 
Laden with heavy bales of goods, they hurry for- 
ward with a long swinging stride. Camels can live 
longer without fresh water than any other animals. 
Nature has provided them w^ith a receptacle for 
water from which they are able to quench thirst 
during their long hot journeys. Their feet are pro- 
vided with soft cushions, which enable them to walk 
in the sand more easily than donkeys and horses. 

What a dreary country this would be to live in! 
Yet there are hundreds of miles of desert in the 
northern part of Africa and many tribes live in 
tents on the little spots of fertile soil called oases. 



CHAPTER III 

THE LAND OF THE NILE 

THE GREAT RIVER 

Today we are going with Azir Girges to the tem- 
ple of Karnak, which is near the village of Luxor. 
We are going to ride on donkeys, for it is nearly 
two miles to the temple. There are no street-cars 
in the town of Luxor, and if we wish to ride we 
shall select the best donkey we can find. In Egypt 
the boy or the man who cares for your donkey and 
goes with you wherever you wish to go over the 
fields and desert is called a 'Monkey boy." 

Azir Girges is one of the donkey boys that we 
are to take with us not only today but on many 
other days. He is such a good donkey boy that we 
may take him to many places in Egypt. He will be 
of great service to us. As a donkey boy he must 
look after our donkey every day. He must see that 
the animal is fed and cared for. In the morning he 
must fasten the saddle upon the donkey's back and 
have everything ready for the day's trip. He must 
help us mount and then urge his donkey on as fast 
as its little legs will carry it. But the donkey in 
reality goes very slowly and Azir Girges can easily 

35 



36 



The Land of the Nile 




THE TEMPLE OF KARXAK 



keep pace with it. Sometimes, when a donkey boy 
thinks that you are not looking, he twists the donkey's 
tail, making the donkey start and turn part way 
round very suddenly. If you are not careful you 
may be thrown from his back. 

Azir Girges has been to the Mission School and 
has learned a little English. By the time we say 
"good-bye" to him when we leave Egypt, he will 
have learned much more that will be of use 
to him, for he is to travel with us far from his home 
and he will talk with us every day and try to an- 
swer our many questions. 

This great temple of Karnak, the ruins of which 
we are approaching, was built many hundreds of 



The Land of the Nile 



37 



years ago by the people we call ancient Egyptians. 
It has in front of it a great gateway called a pylon. 
A pylon or gateway is a very wide and high wall 
of cut stone with a place for large gates in its center. 
We are going to climb the pylon in front of the 
temple of Karnak, to get a view of the beautiful 
valley of the Nile. 




VIEW I'liOM THE PYLON OI^ KARNAK 



In the center of the picture that we see is the 
river Nile. On both sides of the river is the black, 
rich soil of the land of Egypt. We can see the wide 
fields that have been planted by Azir Girges's father 
and other men of the village. Those fields will soon 
be covered with a bright carpet of green and, later 
in the season, will be brilliant with waving grain. 

Farther to the westward are the sandstone moun- 
tains, which glitter in the bright sunshine; for the 
sun nearly always shines during the day in Upper 
Egypt. Those mountains are in the great desert 
of drifting sands that borders the valley of the Nile. 



38 The Land of the Nile 

The desert, which is a part of the great Sahara 
Desert, stretches from the black soil of the Nile 
Valley far away for hundreds of miles to the west. 
If we should now turn squarely round we should see 
the desert on the east also, with its high sparkling 
clififs. 

In the front of the picture spread out before us 
is another little town of mud houses shaded by palm- 
trees. We can see people walking in the loose dirt 
of the village street. It is market day and they are 
going to Luxor to market. Some have articles to sell 
and others are going to buy their week's supply of 
food. 

'^Is this the way all Egypt looks?" you ask. Yes, 
for Egypt in reality is a very narrow strip of land 
extending for hundreds of miles along the banks of 
the great river Nile. In some places the fertile 
black soil is only a few hundred feet wide and in 
other places it is one or more miles wide. 

Except near the Delta, which is the place where 
the Nile flows into the sea, very little rain ever falls 
in Egypt. Azir, who lives quite a long distance 
from the sea, says that he has never seen it rain. 

"But if it never rains, how does the land get water 
for the grass, the grain and the vegetables?" you in- 
quire. 

Far up in the mountains and lakes of Africa, un- 
der the equator, four thousand miles from the 
sea, the Nile river begins its long journey to the 
sea. Rain falls on the mountain-sides and fills the 



The Land of the Nile 



39 




A TOWN .STRUOtlNDED BY THE NILE 



Streams and lakes. From those mountain streams 
the water flows into the Nile and then down the 
long stretch of fertile soil to the Mediterranean sea. 

But the banks of the Nile river, though very high, 
cannot hold all the water. After a time the water 
reaches the tops of the banks and then spreads out 
over all the low land of Egypt, even to the edge of 
the desert on each side. During the overflow of 
the river some parts of the country are like great 
lakes. 

The towns are on a little higher level than that 
of the flat land and during the summer are entirely 
surrounded by water, just as you see the city of 
Assiout in the picture. A crooked road leads from 
that island city to the edge of the desert hills of 
sand. After it has stopped raining in the moun- 



40 The Land of the Nile 

tains and a great deal of the water has either soaked 
into the ground or has reached the sea, the Nile 
gradually recedes until it is again many feet be- 
low the level of its banks. 

The land, however, has been thoroughly watered 
by that time and the rich mud carried by the river 
remains on the surface of the ground, and makes it 
so fertile that plants grow in it very rapidly. A 
great deal of water is caught and held in lakes and 
canals so that it can be pumped up on to the land 
again during the dry season. The climate of Egypt 
is so warm that the Egyptians can plant their grain 
in the winter months and their crops will grow very 
fast. 

This hymn to the Nile river written in Egypt more 
than three thousand years ago shows how sacred to 
the Egyptians was that noble river: 

''Hail to thee, O Nile! 
Thou showest thyself in this land, 
Overflowing the gardens created by Ra ; 
Giving life to all animals; 
Watering the land without ceasing: 
The way of heaven descending: 
Lover of food, bestower of corn, 
Giving light to every home." 



The Land of the Nile 



41 




PLOWING IN EGYPT 



PLOWING, PLANTING, AND HARVESTING IN EGYPT 

In the picture on this page we see the brother of 
Azir Girges plowing. How black and rich is the 
soil that the river has deposited! A thin coating 
of mud is left on the land every time the river 
overflows its banks, and that little coating of mud 
added to those of many, many years before, has made 
the soil of the Nile Valley very rich. You remem- 
ber the story of Joseph in Egypt and how, when he 
was governor of the country, he sold corn to his 
brothers in Canaan and to all the countries round 
about Egypt in time of famine. On page 119 you 
will see a picture of storehouses such as were used 



42 



The Land of the Nile 



for storing corn in years of plenty, to provide for 
possible years of famine. 

The soil of the Nile Valley is so fertile that Egyp- 
tian farmers do not have to plow very deep. Their 
plow seems to us most crude and primitive. It is 
made of three rough pieces of wood fastened to- 




A FIELD READY FOR FLAXTING 



gether so that one piece stirs up the soil as it is 
dragged along the ground, the second reaches up to 
the yoke of the camels or cattle, and the third forms 
the handle of the plow, which is held by the 
man who drives the camels. Sometimes the plow is 
drawn by two camels or by two small oxen, and 
sometimes by a cow and a donkey. 

When the ground has been broken up by the rude 



The Land of the Nile 



43 



plow, it is usually divided into small square fields. 
That work is done by making little canals or trenches 
a few inches deep and about a foot wide between 




MKX DirriNG WATER FROM THE XILE 



the squares. When the land is ready for planting 
it looks like a great checkerboard. 

After the planting, comes the long tedious time 
of watering the land. The Nile by that time has 
gone down far below the level of its banks. All 
along the river men dip up the water in buckets 
and pour it into the little canals. 

The water runs first to one little square field and 
waters it, then is made to run to another field, then 



44 The Land of the Nile 

to another, and so on until the ground is well 
watered. Then the men must begin over again and 
water the first square, and the next square, and so 
on again, to the end of the field. For many weeks 
the work goes on all day, and day after day. The 
workmen are very poor, for like Azir Girges's 
father, they receive only about ten cents a day for 
dipping water from the river into the little canals. 

In the picture we see oxen drawing a pole round 
and round. The pole turns three very old wheels 
made of wood. Do you see the big earthen jars 
fastened to the rope that passes over one of the 
wheels? A small boy sits near the wheel. The 
spokes of the wheels are made of rude planks. When 
the wheels turn round the jars go down into a deep 
well, are filled with water, and come up hanging 
to the rope. When they reach the top, they turn 
over with the wheel and the water is emptied into 
the little canal or runlet at the right. The water 
then flows out into the square fields. In that way 
many acres of land are watered from wells like that 
in the picture. 

Thus it was that gardens wTre supplied with 
water in the rainless country of, ancient Egypt, as 
this ancient love song shows : 

"Fain would I be to thee as the garden in which I have 
planted flowers and sweet-smelling shrubs ! the garden 
watered by pleasant runlets, and refreshed by the north 
breeze." 



The Land of the Nile 



45 




AN ECnrXIAN WELL 



This well is near some Egyptian houses. Do 
you see the children playing about? They live 
within the mud walls of those houses. The houses 
are their homes. How would you like to live in 
such a house? Yet the Egyptian people and their 
children seem very happy. 

The children are looking at a man who is taking 
a photograph of them and of their homes and of 
the old water-wheels by the well. Those same 
wheels may have been used by the little boy's grand- 
father, or even by his great-great-grandfather; for 
things are used for many long years in Egypt. The 
Egyptians never seem to think of having new things; 
old things are good enough for them, and, besides, 



46 



The Land of the Nile 



they are very poor and cannot afford to buy much 
that is new. 

In some parts of Egypt the people still have a 
very old-fashioned ^Yay of threshing out their grain. 
In the picture two camels draw an old machine with 
many wheels, round and round over the grain, time 
and time again, until the kernels are beaten out of 
the husks and straw by the camel's feet and the 
wheels of the machine. The place where this is 
done is called a threshing floor. 

"Thresh the corn, oh ye oxen! 
Thresh for yourselves, oh oxen ! ^ 

The fodder for eating, 
The grain for your master!" 
(Fro?n a threshing song ivritten J650 B. C.) 







THRESHING GBAIN 



CHAPTER IV 

GREAT MOUNDS AND TEMPLES 

HOW THE MOUNDS WERE FORMED 

Today we are going to ride on donkeys to one 
of the great mounds of Egypt. Azir Girges has 
the donkeys ready for us and we must be off early, 
as we have much to see. We ride first along a nar- 
row path through wide grain fields. The grain is 
very high and moves in great waves, as it is blown 
by the fresh winds of the morning. There are no 
clouds in the sky. Everything seems quiet and 
peaceful. 

In the distance is a large mound of earth. As we 
approach it we can see the top of a temple above 
it. Mounds are great heaps of earth rising like 
hills above the plains. They are half a mile or more 
from side to side. 

How were the mounds formed, do you ask? You 
already know that the Egyptian of today builds his 
house of sun-dried bricks. For hundreds and thou- 
sands of years, Egyptians have built their houses of 
similar material, which is nothing but mud mixed 
with straw and dried in the sun. It seldom rains 
in Egypt and the air is so dry that the mud houses 

47 



48 



Great Mounds and Temples 




MOUND AND TEMPLE WALL 



built there last for many years, yet after a time they 
crumble away. 

When the Egyptian decides to build a new house, 
all he has to do is to throw dow^n what is left of his 
old walls, level off the dirt, and then build a house 
in the same way in which the first was built. He 
makes a wall of mud bricks around the little piece 
of ground that he is to call his home. Inside and 
against the wall, he makes little rooms also of mud. 

A long time ago Egyptians living in a large town 
worshiped in a great temple made of stone. The 
temple was very sacred to them. They built their 
homes around it and as near to the sacred enclosure 
as possible. Many houses of sun-dried brick were 



Great Mounds and Temples 



49 



built, and in time the houses grew old and crumbled 
away. The dirt thus formed was leveled off, and new 
houses were made. Such building was repeated 
many, m.any times, until gradually a great mound 
was formed that surrounded the temple and ex- 
tended a long distance away from it. 




A TEMPLE NKAItl.Y lifiniOI) IN A MOUXD 



After many hundreds of years the sacred char- 
acter of the temple was forgotten. Poor people 
lived in the temple and around it. The dirt became 
very deep on its floor; it even filled the temple in 
time, and on the outside it rose higher than the roof. 
In that way some of the great temples in Egypt have 
been gradually covered and forgotten. 

Of course, through the long years, some things got 
lost in the dirt. Some of those things had been used 



50 



Great Mounds and Temples 



in cooking and others had been worn as ornaments 
on the body. So Egyptian mounds contain many 
pieces of broken pottery and broken ornaments. 

When men dig into the mounds as is shown in 
the picture, they uncover the old temple and in the 
dirt find objects that were made thousands of years 




I'OLK i:.MA,N ON WALL OF TEMI'LE 



ago. The objects are very interesting, for they show 
what people used before the temple was covered 
up and what kind of jewelry they made with which 
to adorn themselves. When found, the objects are 
placed in cases in museums, and if we visit those 
museums we learn a great deal about the ancient 
Egyptians, and about the boys and girls who lived 
in the towns along the banks of the great river Nile. 
Do you see the policeman in the photograph? His 



Great Mounds and Temples 



51 




TEMPT.E COT.ONNAnE AT PHII^AE 



dress is of the kind that men in Egypt wear today. 
He has his badge of office on his arm. He is turn- 
ing round to answer a question; he can speak a 
little English. He is there to guard the temple, for 
it is no longer a house of worship. 

Do you see another small temple with its top 
just appearing above the mound? All the rest of 
it is buried in the great heap of dirt. Some day all 
the dirt will be taken away and the temple walls 
will be found covered with picture-writing some 
of which may read like this: 

"I have opened for thee a court on the north side with a 
double staircase ; thy porch is magnificent ; its doors are like 
the horizon of the sky, in order that the multitude may wor- 
ship thee." 



52 Great Mounds and Temples 

THE TEMPLE OF EDFU 

We have just learned how temples became sur- 
rounded and covered with earth. It took many 
hundreds of years for the mound shown in the 
photograph to reach its present height around the 
temple. 

We see that the temple is now being uncovered. 
Many people in America, England, France, and 
Germany are eager to know all they can about the 
temples of Egypt. They wish to learn the stories 
and records of past history written upon the walls 
of her temples. They wish to have copies of the 
pictures that are drawn and carved upon the walls. 
Therefore, they give money to send men to Egypt 
to look after the work of uncovering the temples 
and to protect them from further injury. 

The picture and stories on the temple walls 
are cut in the stone. They were made by people 
who lived in Egypt when the temple was built, over 
three thousand years ago. The poor Egyptians of to- 
day know nothing about the history of their temples. 
They do not know why they were built or when they 
were built, therefore they might injure the temples 
and the pictures if people from America and other 
countries did not protect them. 

But the excavator sent from America or from 
some other foreign country must have the help of 
natives in all the work that he does. Some of the 



Great Mounds and Temples 



53 




EXCAVATING AN EGYl'TIAX TEMl'LE 



helpers are boys and some are men. Each helper 
has a basket. The men carry no larger baskets than 
the boys. When the baskets are filled, men and 
boys walk off together, each with his basket upon 
his head or shoulder. These people of the East al- 
ways sing as they work. When pulling or lifting 
they sing together a strange half wild melody that 
seems to lighten their task. 

It takes many months to remove in this slow way 
all the earth that surrounds the temple shown in the 
picture. The superintendent keeps a very sharp 
watch on all that is done. In the dirt there are many 
small ornaments, pieces of pottery, and other articles 



54 



Great Mounds and Temples 



of interest. It is only by keeping an eye on all the 
material that is loosened and put into the baskets 
that such objects are found and saved. 

In the picture of the temple of Edfu nearly all 
the earth has been removed and we see that the tem- 
ple has a great gateway in front. The gateway is 







THE TEMl'LK OF KDIU 



called a pylon. It is very high, very wide, and very 
thick. 

We can see back of the pylon a large open court 
or hall. It is surrounded by columns and has no 
roof. Beyond that hall are other and smaller halls. 
Some of them have roofs of stone and many columns. 
There are many rooms. Some of the rooms were 
once closed by doors. We find large holes in the 
thresholds where the pivots of hinges that supported 



Great Mounds and Temples 55 




THE SANCTUARY IN THE TEMPLE OF EDFU 



56 Great Mounds and Temples 

the doors turned as the doors were opened and closed. 

The last room of all was the most sacred place 
of the ancient temple. When the temple was used 
for worship, only the king and the chief priest or 
minister could enter the most holy place. Some of the 
people were allowed to go only as far as the pylon. 
Others of higher office were permitted to go inside 
the great courts and halls, but the holy place or 
sanctuary was thought too sacred for any but the 
king and the high priest to enter. 

Pictures and drawings cover the pylon. They also 
cover the walls of the temple. Scholars have learned 
to read the strange language that has pictures of ob- 
jects for words, and thus we may know a great deal 
about the temple. Sometimes the king who had built 
or restored a temple in honor of a god expressed 
himself thus: 

"I erected for him a great door fashioned of new cedar, 
wrought with gold, mounted with real black copper. 
The great name upon it was of doubly refined gold and black 
copper. It was more beautiful than anything that has ever 
been. His majesty further made for him these three portals." 

We learn that the temple of Edfu was built in 
honor of the sun-god. The Egyptians thought that 
the sun was a god and they named the early morn- 
ing sun "Horus." Therefore, on the walls of the 
temple of Edfu are written the words: 

"This temple is dedicated to the god Horus who spreads 
his wings ; the great god ; the lord of heaven who, clad in 
bright plumage, comes forth out of the sun mountain." 



Great Mounds and Temples 



S7 




VIEW FROM PYLON OF EDFU 



Other writings tell us of great processions that 
took place and of festivals that were held when the 
temple was finished. We learn also that the temple 
was repaired two thousand years ago. 

Do you see the four dark places in the front of 
the pylon which are like black vertical lines? They 
were cut into the stone so that great flag-poles could 
be placed against the wall of the pylon. Flags and 
pennants hung from the poles at the time of the great 
religious processions that were often made to the 
temple. 

Let us try to think of the temple when it was new 
and in perfect order. Think of it when all the pic- 
ture-writings were brilliant in color. How beautiful 



58 Great Mounds and Temples 

the processions must have been as they moved slowly 
toward the temple on festive days! People wore 
garments of gay colors. They carried banners in their 
hands and all tried to honor the sun-god whom they 
worshiped. 

But Azir Girges is calling us. He wants us to go 
upstairs to the top of the pylon. Sure enough, here is 
a narrow flight of steps that leads to the top. There 
are two hundred and forty steps in the staircase. Pos- 
sibly this pylon was once used as a watch-tower. 

From the top of the pylon we can look down into 
the first great court. Under the flat roof beyond are 
many rooms that were used by the priests. In some 
were kept the sacred objects used in processions and 
in temple worship. The roof has fallen in one place 
near the farther end. It was in that room that the 
sacred shrine was placed. It was the most holy 
place in the temple. It is sometimes called the 
"holy of holies." 

Now if we look away we shall see the village of 
Edfu close to the great temple. Beyond it is the 
rich land made by the Nile in its yearly overflow. 
Farther on we see the Nile itself, a wonderful river. 
If it were not for the river no one could live in 
Egypt. There would be nothing but desert sands 
and sandhills, like those as far away as the eye can 
see as we stand on the pylon of the temple of Edfu. 



CHAPTER V 

EARLY EGYPTIAN WRITING 

We have seen that temple walls in Egypt are cov- 
ered with a peculiar kind of writing. Many of the 
words, or signs, are much like men, birds, or ani- 
mals. There are men sitting, men standing, and men 
walking. Birds and animals also are represented 
in various positions. So, in very early times, men 
began writing by making pictures of the things they 
wanted to write about, and that picture-writing was 
the beginning of written language. We know that 
the Indians and other primitive people drew pictures 
to express their ideas. Such writing is called hiero- 
glyphic writing. It is the kind used on the temple 
walls of Egypt. 

As time went on people got into the way of using 
fewer marks for each bird, animal, or plant form. 
Instead of making a careful drawing of a bird when 
they were trying to write something about birds, 
they would make a mark like the figure 3 . That fig- 
ure turned lengthwise is just what children sometimes 
make when drawing birds flying in the air. So the 
Egyptians made a great variety of marks for animals, 
men, plants, and for things being done by men. 
Those marks became their form of writing. 

59 



60 



Early Egyptian Writing 



o M ' M: 




!i=r '■-.-# III'. 




'"T, 






•*^ 4* 





•fy 




[S --^ Hi :^ '^ 

^ ^ ^^ 7" »■ Ci 




>^ 



KCiYl'TlAN IIIEUO(;i^Yl'III(S 



Early Egyptian Writing 61 

In those ancient days people did not make paper 
as we do now, but did use papyrus. The papy- 
rus is a plant that grew at the water's edge. Its 
fibrous pulp was made into a kind of paper that was 
very durable. Great quantities of that paper have 
been found in the tombs of Egypt. On the rolls of 
papyrus are written stories of very great interest to 
us now. From them we learn much regarding the 
life and the thought of the ancient Egyptians. 

Some of the writings on papyrus and on stone, 
when translated, sound much like those with which 
we are familiar. The following quotations are two 
of them: 

"I have given bread to the hungrj^; I have given water to 
the thirsty; I have given clothes to the naked." 

"There is no minor that I have put to grief; no laborer 
that I have turned off ; no shepherd that I have imprisoned ; 
no chief of office from whom I have taken his men for forced 
labor. There were no hungry or miserable in my day, for 
if a season of want came, I had cultivated all the arable land 
of Meh. None hungered; I gave to the widow; I made no 
distinction between great and small in all that I gave." 

In Egypt a little over one hundred years ago, a 
flat stone about three feet long and of the shape 
shown in the picture was dug out of the earth, 
near the Rosetta Mouth of the Nile. On the face 
of the stone, which is now called the Rosetta Stone, 
were a great number of little marks made for letters 
and words. 

The inscription was divided into three parts, one 



62 



Early Egyptian Writing 




THE ROSETTA STONE 



Early Egyptian Writing 63 

of which was written in the Greek language. When 
that section was read by Greek scholars, it was learned 
that it was written upon the stone at the time of the 
coronation of a king of Egypt who lived two hun- 
dred years before Christ. Some priests of a temple 
had commanded that one of the laws for the people 
should be written upon stone, in three languages. 
One of the languages was to be Greek because 
Greeks were living in Egypt at the time. The law 
was to be written in Egyptian hieroglyphics also and, 
again, in the language of the common people, so that 
everybody in Egypt might be able to know the law. 

Now no one living at the time the stone was found 
was able to read the strange language of the Egyp- 
tians, because no one knew the old Egyptian alpha- 
bet. But as some people could read Greek and as 
the Greek inscription showed that the other inscrip- 
tions meant exactly what the Greek inscription 
meant, scholars began to try to find out what the 
.Egyptian alphabet might be, by comparing all the 
strange Egyptian marks and words with the Greek 
letters and words. After many long years of study 
scholars succeeded in discovering the alphabet of the 
old Egyptians, and today those who have learned 
that alphabet may read the strange words that are 
written upon the walls of the ancient temples and 
tombs and upon papyrus, the paper of the Egyptians. 

Egyptian temples and tombs, therefore, are like 
great open books, but instead of being made of paper 



64 



Early Egyptian Writing 




■awmwwwg^ 




PAPYRUS ROLL SHOWING EGYl'TIAX WRITING 

and parchment they are made of stone. The stones 
serve two purposes; they are the walls of the temples 
and tombs and they also take the place of books. 
By reading the inscriptions on the walls and upon 
papyrus we learn most interesting facts about the 
old Egyptians. We learn of many of their beauti- 
ful religious thoughts and prayers as well as of their 
laws and customs. Some of the inscriptions are 
printed here and in other chapters of this book. 

"If thou wouldst be of good conduct and dwell apart from 
evil beware of bad temper; for it contains the germs of all 
wickedness. When a man takes justice for his guide and 
walks in her ways, there is no room in his soul for bad tem- 
per. 

"Do not repeat the violent words of others. Do not listen 
to them. They have escaped a heated soul. If they are re- 
peated in thy hearing, look on the ground and be silent." 




THE UilAD T(; TlIK I'YUAMIUS 



CHAPTER VI 



OLD EGYPT 



THE GREAT PYRAMIDS 

Of course you have heard of the pyramids. The 
pyramids of Egypt are known to every boy and girl. 
They are the largest monuments in all the world. 
There are many pyramids in Egypt, but when we 
speak of the pyramids we mean the three great 
pyramids of Gizeh, which are near the city of Cairo. 
They are on the west side of the Nile and are built 
on the edge of the desert. 

The valley of the Nile, which is very narrow for 
hundreds of miles, begins to broaden just there into 
what is called the Delta. On the map it looks like 
a very large letter Y. The pyramids may not look so 

65 



66 



Old Egypt 



large as we thought they would, as we ride toward 
them along the road leading out from Cairo; but 
that is because we are still far from them. 




THE I'YliAMIDS FKnM THE FIELD 



Let us turn into the open fields at the left of the 
roadway. We must ride on our donkeys, for the 
ground is still partly covered with water from the 
last overflow of the Nile. There is a little village 
of mud houses ahead of us, and beyond it in the sands 
of the desert rise the three great pyramids. Now 
they seem far apart. When we reach the edge of 
the desert we shall have to give up -our donkeys and 
ride camels instead. Camels, you remember, have 
soft cushioned feet and can travel in the sand more 
easily than other animals. 

Now the three pyramids seem to move up closer 



Old Egypt 



67 




ANOTHER VIEW OF THE PYRAMIDS 



to one another the nearer we approach them. That 
is because they are so large that one partly hides 
another. How large do you suppose one of the three 
great pyramids is? Remember it is built of great 
blocks of stone and that all of the stone had to be 
brought from the quarry which is many miles away. 
The pyramid illustrated on page 69 is called the 
pyramid of Khufu and measures seven hundred and 
fifty feet on each of its four sides, and it is four hun- 
dred and fifty feet high. If you live in the city, 
just think that one side of the pyramid is nearly equal 
to the length of a long city block. If the pyramid 
were built in a city it would nearly cover a long 



68 Old Egypt 

block one way, and it would spread out over three 
of the narrow blocks the other way and cover the 
streets between. It would be more than twice the 
height of Bunker Hill monument, and nearly as high 
as the Washington monument. 

If you live in the country perhaps you know of 
some square field containing thirteen acres. That is 
just the number of acres covered by the base of the 
pyramid. It is said that if the pyramid could be 
weighed, it would be found to weigh seven million 
tons. 

The builders of the pyramid first leveled off the 
rock that they found under the sand, and then they 
covered thirteen acres of it with blocks of stone about 
three feet high, making a great level floor. 

Then they covered that floor over with another 
floor of stone of the same thickness. They fitted 
the stones close together, but they did not make 
the second floor quite so large as the first. You see 
they wanted each floor a little smaller than the one 
below, so that the sides of the pyramid would slope 
toward the top. All four sides would thus meet in 
a point when finished. 

After the builders had made one floor of blocks 
of stone three feet high, they next made a narrow^ 
road-way up to it on one side by slanting earth up 
to the level of the floor. Up the incline thus made, 
they moved the stones needed for the second floor. 

When the second floor was in place they slanted 
earth up to that, then rolled stones up for the 



Old Egypt 



69 




THE CilJEAT PYRAMID OF KinTFTJ 



third floor. They kept on working in that way un- 
til they reached the top. Then there was a long 
slanting hill of earth on one side extending to the top- 
most stone. When the pyramid was finished they 
took all the earth away. 

Of course, at first the sides of the pyramids were 
like great steps, but the builders filled the steplike 
spaces so that the sides sloped smoothly to the very 
top of the pyramid. The filling has disappeared 
from the largest pyramid, and we can now climb to 
its top over one hundred and .fifty steps, each step be- 
ing about three feet high. But we shall find the ascent 
of the pyramid very hard work indeed. We shall 
need two or three Arabs to help us, just as we see 



70 



Old Egypt 



them helping men in the picture. We shall have to 
rest many times on the way up. 

What shall we see when we reach the top? If 
we look off to the north we shall see the great level 
Delta of the Nile covered with rich soil that has 




tLiMi;i.\i; THE i;i;i:.\r rviiAMii 



Old Egypt 



71 



been made by the mud of many yearly overflows. 
The Delta is as level as a floor and is dotted with 
villages. We can see the road that stretches across 
to Cairo also. It is bordered with trees. The sands 
of the desert surround the base of the pyramid and 
reach close to the edge of the Delta. 




VIEW OF DELTA EHUJI TOP OF I'YUAMID 



Now, when we turn round in the opposite direc- 
tion, we shall learn just what is meant by the word 
"desert." There are no plants, grasses, or trees. It is 
all a dreary waste of sand. The desert is not level, 
for its yellow brown sand drifts with the wind, and 
in some places looks like great snowdrifts. Barren 
rocks show here and there. In many of the rocks 
there are ancient tombs. 

The pyramids are in reality situated in a great 



72 



Old Egypt 



tomb field, or cemetery, 
the burying-ground of 
the capital of Lower E 
tery for hundreds, and 
The pyramids were 
the builders built the 



That part of the desert was 
the great city of Memphis, 
gypt. It was used as a ceme- 
perhaps thousands, of years, 
the tombs of kings. When 
pyramids they took care to 




^fiSs:^ 






VIEW OF DESEBT FBOM TOP OF PTBAMID 



leave one or two rooms of small size near the center 
or deep down in the foundation. Very narrow pas- 
sageways lead to those rooms. After the kings were 
buried in those inner chambers, the entrances were 
closed with blocks of stone. 

Some of the narrow passageways in the pyramids 
have been discovered and opened and we can now 
go into them, but it is very difficult to climb to the 
rooms of the largest pyramid. There are no good 



Old Egypt 73 

steps in its passageway. It is very steep, very narrow 
and dark, and the air is very bad. We should have 
to take lights w^ith us and have one or two Arabs 
help us, and then we should find only two small 
dark rooms to reward us for our effort. It was in 
one of those rooms that the king was buried in a 
large stone coffin. 

In one pyramid a stone has been found that has 
painted on it the name, Khufu, the king who built the 
pyramid. This fact shows that the stones must have 
been marked when they left the quarry much as 
stones are marked by builders today. 

The following sentence from a very ancient writ- 
ing refers to the directions given to a builder who 
was sent to the granite quarries of the island of Ele- 
phantine near Assuan to secure material for building 
one of the pyramids: 

''His majesty sent me to Elephantine to bring a door of 
granite, together with Its offering tablet, doors and settings 
of granite, belonging to the upper chamber of the pyramid." 

THE PYRAAHDS AND THE SPHINX 

Thousands of men were employed in building the 
pyramids, and it took many, many years to complete 
them. Of course there had to be large towns near-by 
for the workmen to live in, and there were also all the 
women and children that lived in the towns to be 
cared for. The children probably played in the 
streets between the mud walls just as they play in the 
little pyramid village today. 



74 



Old Egypt 




THE SPHINX AXD THE PYKAillDS 



How old do you suppose the pyramids are? Well, 
it is known that they are about five thousand years 
old. That is a very, very great age indeed. When 
Joseph dwelt in Egypt he may have lived near the 
pyramids. Of course he saw them, for the pyra- 
mids had been there a thousand years or more be- 
fore Joseph, who was sold by his brothers, became 
the governor of Egypt. 

The old Sphinx was there too, and probably Joseph 
went to see it many times. The Sphinx is carved out 
of the solid rock that appears here and there in the 
desert. Its body is over one hundred and forty feet 
long and it is sixty-six feet high. In the picture, 
an Arab stands under the head of the Sphinx and 



Old Egypt 7S 

there is a camel on one paw. The size of the Arab 
and of the camel helps us to realize how very large 
the Sphinx is. The Sphinx has the body of a lion 
and the head of a man. It faces the east. 

The ancient Egyptians worshipped the sun. To 
them the early morning sun was the young god 
Horus, whose picture we shall see on the wall of 
a temple that we shall visit later. The Sphinx was 
a symbol of the early morning sun and of Horus the 
god-child. Facing directly to the east it reflects the 
brilliancy of the sun. 

The following very old writing refers to the sun- 
god: 

"When thou risest in the eastern horizon of heaven, 
Thou fillest every land with thy beauty; 
For thou art beautiful, great, glittering, high over the earth." 

The kings of Egypt thought they w^ere related to 
the sun-god, and when the Sphinx came to be a 
symbol of the power of the sun the kings adopted it 
as a symbol of their divine nature and their power 
over men. Therefore they used small Sphinxes to 
decorate the avenues leading to their temples. 

The eyes of the Sphinx have a far-away look of 
intense earnestness. The whole face has much power 
and seems very thoughtful. It is aw^-inspiring and 
must have appealed strongly to the Egyptians, who 
believed in its powder as a god. 

Near the great Sphinx is a temple in the sand. The 
temple actually consists of a series of rooms upon 
the natural stone floor below the level of the sand. 



76 



Old Egypt 




THE TKMFLE Ul' THE Sl'IIINX 



Its rooms are lined with granite and alabaster and 
are as beautifully finished as though made today in- 
stead of several thousand years ago. The temple was 
a memorial hall where services were probably held 
by the relatives of the king who was buried near-by 
in his own pyramid. 



PICTURE STORIES OF OLD EGYPT 

When we were on the top of the pyramid of 
Khufu, we could see just how the desert looked to 
the south and west. We could also see that there 
were many tombs near the pyramids which looked 
like caves in the sand. Those tombs were built long 



Old Egypt 



77 




TRAVELIN 



IX THE KESEKT 



ago and are now mostly filled with sand that drifts 
with the winds of the desert. 

The great cemetery of the ancient city of Memphis 
extends for several miles along the edge of the desert. 
There are small pyramids there, too. One of them 
is called the "stepped" pyramid, because its sides 
are like great steps. We are going past that pyra- 
mid to visit one or two of the oldest tombs of Egypt. 

We can ride our donkeys a short distance into the 
desert, but Azir Girges and the other donkey boys 
must continually urge them on, for they do not like 
to travel in the desert. It is very hard for them to 
do so. Their little feet sink deep into the yielding 
sand. 



78 



Old Egypt 




ARRIVAL AT AN ANCIKNT TOMB 



Here we are at the entrance to the tomb, where 
we leave the donkeys. The tomb slants down into 
the solid rock for a long distance. If men did not 
remove the sand often, it would drift over the tomb 
and cover it again. In that way nearly all the Egyp- 
tian tombs have been covered and lost to view. 

When you walk into the tomb you will find one 
or more rooms, and, on the walls of the rooms, rows 
upon rows of pictures one above another. The pic- 
tures are carved in low relief and colored. 

Why! you will find pictures of almost everything 
that you can think of that happens on a farm! There 
are pictures of all kinds of farm animals and farm- 
ers sowing, plowing, and reaping. Some men are 



Old Egypt 



79 



milking cows and some are tying cows out in the 
fields. Others are driving animals before them, per- 
haps to the barnyards. Men are also engaged in 
putting grain into large bins. 

It seems strange that the old Egyptians should 
have had all these pictures modeled and painted upon 
the walls of their tombs. 




I'lCTI'ItE STOKIES OX WALL OF TO.MI! 



CHAPTER VII 

RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS 

HORUS, THE MORNING SUxN-GOD 

"Hail to thee, Lord of all gods, Lord of Righteousness, 
the maker of men, and animals, and plants, and all things, 
above and here below . . . Blessed be thou, the only One 
. . . by whose will the Nile is, and the palm; all created 
things do homage unto thee." 

(From an ancient Egyptian hymn.) 

Let us look carefully at the picture and at the 
strange writing on the stone. We must remember 
that everything in the picture was made by artists 
who lived over thirty centuries ago. 

The picture is only one of many w^hich were made 
upon the wall of a great temple at Abydos in Egypt. 
In the center of it a woman is seated upon a beau- 
tiful throne chair. She holds a boy in her lap. The 
woman wears the horns of a cow upon her head and 
between the horns there is a disk shaped like the sun. 

''Now, what does this picture mean/' do you ask? 
Let me tell you. We remember that the sun always 
shines during the day in Upper Egypt. The ancient 
Egyptians did not understand what created the sun- 
shine. They thought that the sun must be a god, 

80 



Religion of the Ancient Egyptians 



81 




HATHUE AND HOBUSj HORUS THE MORNING SUN-GOD 



82 Religion of the Ancient Egyptians 

who traveled in a golden boat through the heavens 
from east to west every day. They could not under- 
stand what became of the sun at night. But when 
it came up again each morning they thought that 
it had been born again as a little child, and they 
gave it the name Horus or Ra, as in this song of 
praise: 

"When through the heavenl}^ vale 
Thou takest through blue fields thy path of light, 
Then all the gods tremble at thy approach 
With sweet delight, thou child of heaven, Ra!" 

Horus, as the Egyptians thought, had a divine 
mother, a beautiful woman. This picture represents 
that divine mother holding in her lap the divine 
child Horus. They called the! divine mother 
Hathor. 

''But why did they put horns on Hathor's head,'' 
you ask? They wished to distinguish her from other 
gods and goddesses. She was to them the divine 
mother; and as the cow seemed to be the most 
motherly of animals, they gave Hathor a headdress 
with the horns of a cow upon it. With a headdress 
like that, Hathor could be easily recognized. Hathor 
also expressed the thought of love. As she was loving 
to her son, so she would be loving to everyone else. 

Some of their drawings may seem very strange to 
you, but you see that the Egyptians had very beau- 
tiful thoughts that they expressed as well as they 
could. Horus wears a very elaborate necklace. He 
has a strange-looking cap on his head. The shep- 



Religion of the Ancient Egyptians 83 

herd's crook that he holds is a symbol of his great 
power of leadership as the sun-god. 

Below and at the right of the throne chair we see 
men making offerings of food, to show that they 
are very grateful for all that the sun does for them. 
It is the sun that sheds warmth upon the earth. It 
is the sun that causes the plants to grow. It is the 
sun that makes it possible to have food. So, you 
see, the Egyptians felt that they should show their 
thankfulness by bringing offerings to the sun. 

All around these pictures you see other little pic- 
tures. There are drawings of birds, feathers, ani- 
mals, of men walking, men sitting, of arms, eyes, 
circles, oblongs, hooks, flags, and of many other 
things. These drawings put together by the old 
Egyptians spelled out wo^-ds. Some scholars today 
can read such picture-writing. They tell us what it 
means and what was written here about Hathor and 
her little son Horus, — Horus who was a symbol of 
the early morning light. 

There is no other picture that will give you such 
an excellent idea of the art of the Ancient Egyptians 
as this of Hathor and Horus. The Egyptians did not 
know how to draw men and women so well as we 
do now, but they designed and drew beautiful orna- 
ments. Everthing here, including the writing, is 
done with great care. See how carefully the throne 
chair is modeled and decorated. Look at the head- 
dress of Hathor. Then, too, see how tenderly the 
love of Hathor toward her son Horus is expressed. 



84 Religion of the Ancient Egyptians 

This picture is certainly very wonderful and inter- 
esting, and so are the following words written to the 
sun-god : 

"Thou hast created all things that exist 
As far as stretches the great vault of heaven. 
Thou art the guardian whose mild gentle ray 
Brings precious life to all whose hearts are pure." 

RA, THE NOONDAY SUN-GOD 

It may be cloudy today in America, but it is never 
cloudy in Upper Egypt. The sun always shines 
there and it shines very, very brightly. If you should 
awake at sunrise you would see a beautiful sight as 
the sun appeared to come up out of the sand fields 
of the eastern desert. In another direction you might 
discern a long line of mountains of deep rich purple. 
Above the mountains the sky might be orange, blend- 
ing into a yellow as pure as gold. 

But what is that now peeping with a golden eye 
over the sandstone hills of the east? Up, up it comes, 
the symbol of victory and of resurrection to the 
ancient Egyptians. Last night we saw the sun go 
down, as it seemed, directly into the desert sands of 
the west. Where has it been through the night? 

The old Egyptians believed that the sun wrestled 
all night with Typhon, the god of darkness. Vic- 
torious, it rose again in the morning with all the 
vigor of youth. So, when they wished to make 
a picture of the early morning sun they painted a 



Religion of the Ancient Egyptians 85 

beautiful boy and they called his name Horus, as 
we have already learned. 

The sun is the giver of light and day, the giver 
of life, of warmth, of the clear atmosphere, of color, 
and of beautiful flowers. Do you ever stop to think 
that without the sun the earth would be in darkness 
all the time, that no one could live on it, that there 
would be no trees, no grass, no flowers, and that our 
world would be intensely cold? 

It was a beautiful thought of the Egyptians to 
regard the sun as a god, the giver of life, and to 
picture the sun in the morning as a beautiful child. 

And now we see the sun mount rapidly upward 
from the belt of earth, now pink, now gold, now of 
crystal purity. It mounts higher and higher as 
though with wings. We do not wonder that the 
Egyptians thought of the sun as having wings, or 
as sailing in a golden boat through the heavens. 

By this time the water of the Nile is like beautiful 
bronze. The sand clififs glisten in an intense light. 
The palm-trees make a lovely picture against the 
golden sky. The great sails of the Nile boats fill 
with the rising wind. The people of the village are 
awake. The boys and girls come down to the river 
to get water. Another day in Egypt has been born. 

But let us look at the next picture. "What can it 
mean?" you ask in wonder. The man has a head like 
a hawk and on his head is a disk. In one hand is 
a sceptre of power; in the other a cross, which means 
life. That is the way in which the ancient Egyp- 



86 



Religion of the Ancient Egyptians 




UA, TUE i^•OU^•UAl SL'X liUU 



Religion of the Ancient Egyptians 87 

tians tried to express the power of the sun at noon- 
day. In the morning the sun was pictured as a 
child. At noonday it was pictured as a strong man; 
it was then the child grown to manhood. 

They wished to show, too, that the sun was some 
far-away power. The hawk flies very high; so 
high that it disappears from sight. The Egyptians 
thought it could reach the sun or go nearer to the 
sun than anything else could, so they put the hawk's 
head on the shoulders of the man made to represent 
the sun. On the head of the hawk they set the sun 
disk. 

''He formed me as a Horus hawk of gold, he gave to me 
his might and his strength and 1 was splendid with these, his 
diadems, in this my name, Golden Horus, mighty in strength, 
splendid in diadems." 

In the hands of the man they placed the sceptre and 
the cross, the symbols of power and of life. This 
picture, then is one which made the Egyptians think 
of the sun, and of the great power of the sun, which 
brings life, flowers, and beauty into the world. 

We see the king making an offering to the sun- 
god. The offering is upon the table. Above the 
offering and in the hands of the king are clusters of 
lotus flowers. 

The lotus was the most beautiful of all flowers to 
the Egyptians. It was a symbol of purity. We see 
it in nearly all pictures made by the ancient Egyp- 
tians. They also designed a great many of their 



88 



Religion of the Ancient Egyptians 







j 


♦ •■•* 


L 



KINGS makixct offerings 



ornaments from the lotus, just as boys and girls in 
school today make designs from our flowers. 

If we look at the many Egyptian pictures in this 
book, we shall find that the sacred lotus appears in 
a variety of ways. It is seen in the bud, as the partly 
open flower, and as the full blossom upon the stalk. 
It forms a design about the shafts of columns. The 
capitals of columns are often shaped like the bud; 
often, like the flower. The lotus is also used to dec- 
orate temples, tombs, and mummy cases. On the 
throne chair of Hathor and Horus the lotus and 
papyrus are bound together, to symbolize the union 
of Upper and Lower Egypt. 

The lotus was used in amulets and gold ornaments. 



Religion of the Ancient Egyptians 89 

It was carried in the hands of kings when they made 
offerings. It was the pure lily of the Nile, the sym- 
bol of purity and resurrection. It was very beauti- 
fully drawn and often colored in pink, blue, or white, 
like the natural flower. In ancient Egyptian litera- 
ture we find many lines referring to the lotus. Two 
of them are given below: 

"I am a pure lotus, issue of the field of the sun." 

"I offer thee the flower which was, in the beginning, the 
glorious lily of the great water." 

They thought that when laid away in the tomb the 
pictures would be useful to them or that their souls 
would have a chance to enjoy all the good things 
that they themelves had owned and loved when liv- 
ing on earth. 

It is by studying such pictures and songs like that 
given below, that we learn very much about the an- 
cient Egyptians and how they lived in the Nile val- 
ley close to the edge of the desert. 

"All cattle rest upon their herbage; 
All trees and plants flourish ; 
The birds flutter in their marshes. 
Their wings uplifted in adoration to thee, 
All the sheep dance upon their feet ; 
All winged things fly; 
They live when thou hast shone upon them." 



CHAPTER VIII 

TEMPLES AND TEMPLE BUILDERS 

THE GREAT TEMPLES OF KARNAK 

A king who lived thirty-five hundred years ago 
thus described a temple that he built: 

*'I performed excellent duties in the house of Amon ; I 
made for him a temple at the upper portal of the house of 
Amon. I erected obelisks therein of granite, whose beauty 
approached heaven. A wall was before it of stone over 
against Thebes. It was flooded and the gardens were plant- 
ed with trees. I made very great double doors of electrum. 
I hewed very great flagstaves and erected them in the fore- 
court in front of his temple." 

There was once a great and beautiful city in Egypt 
called Thebes. Powerful kings lived in the citv, 
and in it they built wonderful temples. Those tem- 
ples are the largest in all the world. Thebes must 
have been a very great city thronged with people, 
many of whom lived in mud houses like those found 
in the little villages of today. But the kings and 
the rich people lived in palaces. Those palaces were 
surrounded with walls and within the walls were 
beautiful gardens. Thebes was a city of triumph, 
wealth and power. 

90 



Temples and Temple Builders 



91 




AVENUE OP ArrnOACH TO TEMPLES OF KARNAK 

When Thebes was in its glory, the Egyptians be- 
lieved in a god that was related to the sun-god Ra. 
He was known as Amon-Ra. In his honor they 
erected the great temple of Karnak, which we are 
to visit today. 

Much wealth was bestowed upon that temple, or 
rather upon that group of temples, for there were 
actually many temples. The temples were built by 
different kings, and the building w^as continued dur- 
ing many hundreds of years. Karnak became the 
largest temple in the world and the wonder of the 
ages. 

There is little left now of the mighty city of Thebes 
except the ruins of its temples. Its palaces have all 
crumbled away. Its houses are gone, and the few 
people who live where Thebes once stood live now 
in the little villages of Luxor and Karnak. 



92 Temples and Temple Builders 

Azir Girges lives in Luxor, you know. It is nearly 
two miles from his home to the temples of Karnak. 
So we must take our donkeys and ride out along the 
old road that was once a beautiful avenue of ap- 
proach to the temples. 

We are coming to the temple of Khonsu. We 
leave Azir and walk slowly toward the great pylon. 
See the boys and girls standing near it and think 
how high the pylon is. It is like a great gateway, or 
watch-tower, standing a little in front of the temple 
itself. The wall of the pylon is covered with draw- 
ings and strange picture-writing, all cut in the stone. 
The drawings and picture-writing tell us stories of 
the lives of the old kings and why the temple was 
erected. In an old Egyptian story a king says of 
this temple: 

"I built a house in Thebes for thy son Khonsu, of good 
hewn stone, its doors covered with gold adorned with elec- 
trum like the celestial horizon." 

A great sun-disk with wings is above the doorway. 
There is a serpent carved in the stone on each side 
of the disk. The name of the ornament is the 
''winged globe." The outspread wings were symbols 
of divine protection. The serpents were symbols of 
royalty. The old Egyptians had this winged globe 
carved or painted over doorways. They thought it 
a good sign, a sign of protection. They believed that 
it insured safety to all within the house. 

Now, this temple that is called Khonsu is only 



Temples and Temple Builders 



93 




THE TEMl'LE OF KlIONSU 



one of the great group of temples. It is much like 
the temple of Edfu, which we visited a few days 
ago. So we hasten to Karnak, the largest of these 
temples. 



94 



Temples and Temple Builders 




THK GREAT HALL OF LULU.M.NS A.NU UBELL>^K, TK.MI'LE OF KARXAK 



The great temple of Karnak is nearly a quarter of 
a mile long. The front wall is about four hundred 
feet wide and one hundred and fifty feet high. In- 
side of the wall are large courts surrounded by col- 
umns. There are also great rooms crowded with 
columns made to support the roof. 

The temple is a little way from the river. We 
can see part of the avenue that leads down to it. The 
avenue is bordered with Sphinxes. You will remem- 
ber that the kings used Sphinxes as symbols of their 
power. This must have been a very grand avenue 
in the time of great religious processions. 

We can imagine how the boats looked sailing up 



Temples and Temple Builders 



95 




THE AXCIKNT .WICMK UF .Sl'IUNXES 



the river to the landing-place. The state barges were 
brilliant in color and decorated with gold. 

As the procession formed, choirs upon the river 
bank sang songs of praise to the god Amon-Ra. The 
jeweled gowns of the priests and of other dignitaries 
in the procession sparkled in the bright sunlight. 

The procession was probably led by the king. It 
moved slowly up the avenue of Sphinxes. Flags and 
pennants waved from their staffs. Sacred emblems 
and banners richly decorated wxre carried by the 
people. In the first great court of the temple 
gathered the sacred hosts. Only a smaller number 
could enter the second court, and only the king and 
the high priest could approach the most sacred place 
or ''holy of holies." 

To reach the sanctuary, they had to pass through 



96 Temples and Temple Builders 

the great hall of columns. As we look at those col- 
umns we wonder how the workmen could have built 
them. Just think; they are about twelve feet in 
diameter and seventy-five feet high. Their great 
capitals spread out as though to support the dome 
of heaven. 

Why do you suppose those kings of old built tem- 
ples so vast in size? Was it to show their power as 
kings, or was it to show their faith in a great god 
who rules over the earth? In reality an Egyptian 
temple was not a place of public worship and prayer, 
as are churches today. It was a gift from the king 
and was built with the hope of securing favor from 
the gods. 

In the pictures upon the temples the king is al- 
most always seen making offerings to the gods or 
asking favors of them. The gods are represented, 
too, as granting the favors asked, and the writings 
tell us of the king's gratitude. 

Think of the great number of men employed in 
building those temples. What a city Thebes must 
have been with its wonderful buildings and its streets 
gay with the brilliant costumes of its people! In 
all sunny climates very bright colors are usually 
worn, as dull tones are not attractive in the dazzling 
sunlight, and so it must have been in ancient Egypt. 

Here in Thebes stands a great obelisk also, covered 
with picture-writing. Only a part of it shows in the 
illustration. It was erected by the noted queen 
Hatasu. A part of the inscription reads, "Hatasu 



Temples and Temple Builders 



97 




DRAWINGS OX WALL OF SAXlTUAUY AT KARNAK 

erected this as a monument to her father, Amon, the 
lord of the throne of Both Lands." 

Farther back is the sanctuary. Upon the wall of 
the sanctuary we see the same kind of picture-writ- 
ing that we have found on other temples. But do 
you note the drawings of boats with queer little oars 
and sails? Why do you suppose the Egyptians made 
those drawings? You would hardly know them as 
boats. In the center of each is a drawing of a door. 
That is meant to represent the door of a tomb, and 
the boat is supposed to be carrying a soul across the 
river to its tomb. 

But a sail sweeps right across the door, and by 
means of it a very beautiful thought is expressed. 
The sail is a symbol of new breath, the new wind of 
the morning. The Egyptians believed that every 



98 Temples and Temple Builders 

one who died would come to life again somewhere, 
somehow. They believed that one should not think 
of the tomb as a dark and dismal place. They thought 
that a new life would some time come to the one 
placed within the tomb. 

So you see that this picture means, that although 
a person who had died might be taken across the 
river in the boat and buried in the tomb, yet, as 
the sail catches the fresh breeze of the morning, so 
the soul would live again. It is a symbol not of sad- 
ness but of joy in the new life to come and is a beau- 
tiful expression of the thought of the soul's immor- 
tality. The following very old Egyptian writing 
refers to the boats upon the Nile sailing in the sun- 
light of the god Ra: 

"The barks sail upstream and downstream alike. 
Every highway is open because thou hast dawned. 
The fish in the river leap up before thee. 
And thy rays are in the midst of the great sea." 

THE GREAT KING RAMSES II 

There are many temples in Upper and Lower 
Egypt. They are not far from the banks of the Nile. 
Some of them are close to the river. The temple of 
Luxor, which wx see in the picture, is very near in- 
deed. Luxor is the village, you will remember, where 
Azir Girges lives and where we visited him, his 
mother, and his sister Louise. 

The boat that is close to the bank of the river is 



Temples and Temple Builders 



99 




DAHABIYEH AND TEMPLE OF LUXOR 



called a dahabiyeh. It is so built that it can be used 
where the water is very shallow. Its mast is close 
to the bow. A long slanting pole is fastened to the 
top of the mast and on it is tied the sail. 

We can count fourteen men who have been sent 
aloft to tie up the sail while the boat is at anchor for 
the passengers to visit the temple. In the back part 
of the boat are cabins and living-rooms. 

Such boats are comfortable to live in and travelers 
frequently spend several months of the winter in 
them. It is delightful to live on a dahabiyeh while 
traveling on the Nile and visiting the many wonder- 
ful places to be seen in the land of the Egyptians. 



100 



Temples and Temple Builders 




THE FRONT WALL OF THE TEMI'LE OF L! ;:( 11 



The temples of Egypt were built by powerful 
kings, who employed thousands of men and slaves 
to do the work. Of course the kings thought them- 
selves very great. They believed that they wxre re- 
lated to the sun-god and that they were able to do 
wondrous things. This temple of Luxor is several 
hundred miles from the mouth of the Nile. It was 
built over three thousand years ago by Ramses II. 

We shall first w^alk round to the front of the build- 
ing. The streets are very dirty. Some of the bet- 
ter houses of the town are directly in front of the 
temple. But we do not see all of the front wall of 
the temple as we approach it. It is one of the tem- 



Temples and Temple Builders 



101 




STATUES AND HALL OF COLUMNS, TEMPLE OF LUXOR 

pies that were gradually covered by the crumbling 
away of the many mud houses built during thousands 
of years of time. Most of the earth has now been re- 
moved and we must go down about twenty-five feet 
to reach the floor of the temple. It hardly seems 
possible that once upon a time the town of Luxor 
was on the same level as that of the temple floor. 

Upon the wall or pylon is a long story that king 
Ramses had cut in the stone. In it he tells of his 
wonderful power and boasts of what he was able to 
do in honor of the god Amon-Ra. He says, ^'I be- 
seech thee, O father Amon, look upon me here in 
the midst of countless foes that are strange to me. 
All nations have united themselves against me and 



102 Temples and Temple Builders 

I am alone and no one is with me." He then tells 
how he alone defeated twenty-five hundred chariots 
of war, aided, as he believed, by Amon-Ra. 

Back of the pylon we find that the earth has been 
removed, and we see a great avenue of columns. Be- 
tween the columns are broken granite statues that 
are several times the height of Azir Girges, who 
stands by one of them. 

At the left is a statue of Ramses II, which he him- 
self had placed there. In course of time the statue, 
like the temple, was covered with the dust of many 
cities built one on top of another. The pedestal and 
one foot of the statue are still nearly covered. On 
the pedestal is the king's name. 

Ramses II took great pride in having statues of 
himself set up all over Egypt, and he had many 
stories of his life and of his great power written upon 
temple walls. 

Far away up the Nile is one of those temples. It 
is called Abu-Simbel and, unlike the other temples 
that we have seen, it is cut out of the sandstone clifif 
that reaches far above the river. On the front are 
four statues of Ramses carved in the solid rock. 

If we examine the picture we shall see what a pow- 
erful man Ramses thought himself to be. In it we 
see small statues between the legs of Ramses. They 
do not reach up to the knees of the king. The king 
intended them to represent his wife and children. 
There are two men standing near and, by comparing 
them with the statues, we see how very high and large 



Temples and Temple Builders 



103 




TEMPLE OF ABU-SIMBEL AND STATUES OP KAMSES II 

the statues of the king are, and how important the 
king appears. 

On another temple, that of Abydos, Ramses II 
boasts of what he did to restore the temple built by 
his father Seti I. The following are the words 
that he had cut into the temple wall, that they might 
last for ages: 

''Then spoke His Majesty unto them and said: "I have 
called my father to a new life in gold (that is, as a gold 
statue) in the first year of my exaltation. I have given orders 
that his temple be adorned, and I have made sure his posses- 
sion of the land. ... I built new walls of the temple. I 
presented before him the man whom I had selected to superin- 
tend the works. ... I erected pylons in front of it. 
I have covered his house with sculptures. I have 




STATUE OF liAMSES 11 



Temples and Temple Builders 105 

adorned its columns and provided stones for the founda- 
tions. A finished work was the monument, doubly as glori- 
ous as at first. It is named after my name and after the 
name of my father.' " 

AN OBELISK IN THE MAKING 

In one of the photographs of the temple of Luxor 
and in another of Karnak we have seen great shafts 
of granite covered with picture-writing. The an- 
cient Egyptians usually placed two such shafts of 
stone in front of each temple as memorial or trium- 
phal monuments. They are called obelisks. Some 
of them are about one hundred feet high. As each 
is a single block of stone, it is very heavy indeed. 

We wonder how the old Egyptians could cut their 
obelisks out of the stone quarry and then move them 
far away to the temple and set them up on end in 
such a secure way that they would remain in place 
for many, many centuries. 

Today we are going with Azir Girges to visit 
one of the Egyptian quarries. We shall start from 
Assuan, situated at the first cataract on the Nile. The 
donkeys are made ready; their thick saddles are 
securely strapped around their bodies, and we are 
off upon the desert highway. This road of sand has 
been the main highway for many centuries. 

But what do we see moving toward us? It is a 
caravan from the South. It has come all the way 
from the Sudan, near the center of Africa. Its camels 
are loaded with goods that are to be put on the freight 
boats and sent to Cairo. 



106 



Temples and Temple Builders 



A man from the caravan has started to run toward 
us. What do you suppose he wants? He cannot 
speak English, but he makes it very clear, by mo- 
tions with his hands, that he wants some money be- 
cause he allowed us to take a photograph of himself 
and the caravan train. Well, wt shall give him a 
little fee. It takes several copper coins in Egyptian 
money to equal one or two cents of American money. 

Eight freight boats may be seen in another picture. 
The fresh breeze of the morning fills their lateen 
sails until they look like the wrings of great birds. 




A CAUAVAX (IX THE DESERT HIGHWAY 



On they rush past the little villages that nestle among 
palm-trees on the river's edge. 

But we must not forget our visit to the old granite 
quarries that are a little distance from the road 



Temples and Temple Builders 



107 




FREIGHT BOATS UX THE NILE 



through the desert. Let us turn our donkeys to- 
ward the left and make our way among the rocks. 
The ground is covered with chips of granite. Many 
statues and obelisks were carved here by stone-cutters 
who lived ages ago. 

Here is an obelisk that still forms a part of the 
solid rock. Three sides have been made smooth, 
but the fourth side has never been separated from 
its granite bed. If the old Egyptians had finished 
this obelisk and had made it ready to be moved to 
some temple, how do you suppose they would have 
cut the fourth side so that the obelisk could be carried 
awav? 



108 



Temples and Temple Builders 



In all probability they would have made a great 
many holes side by side the entire length of the 
obelisk. Then they would have driven sticks of wood 
into those holes and wet them with water. You know 
that wood swells when wet and all those little sticks, 
swelling at the same time, would produce so great 
a force that the stone would split along its entire 
length. Finally the masons would have rolled the 
obelisk over and made the fourth side smooth like 
those you see in the picture. After all the cutting 
was done an obelisk was moved in some way to the 




AN OHELl.SK l.\ TIIK QlAUltY 



river below the rapids, loaded upon a great raft and 
floated down the stream to some temple. 

We do not know how the Egyptians could set the 




TOP OF AN OBELISK WITH PICTUnE-WRITING 



110 Temples and Temple Builders 

obelisk up in front of the temple, because of its 
great weight. The ancient Egyptians certainly were 
a most wonderful people and were able to accomplish 
great tasks with very simple appliances. 

After obelisks were put in place, the}^ were cov- 
ered with picture-writing including the names of 
the kings and queens who had them erected. 

All obelisks were pointed at the top. Their points 
were probably decorated with gold, and that brilliant 
metal glistening in the sun could be seen from all 
parts of the city and from a great distance. 

An obelisk has been brought to Central park in 
New York City from Egypt. But it will not remain 
long in good condition in our climate. In Egypt 
the air is very dry and it seldom rains. Nor are 
there any frosts. But in New York rain, snow, and 
frost have chipped ofif small pieces from the obelisk 
and it will not be long before the carving on it will 
be destroyed unless it is protected by some special 
means. 

We know that the ancient kings sent out skilled 
workmen in large numbers to do all kinds of work, 
because of these words written in Egypt nearly two 
thousand years before the time of Christ: 

"Now, his majesty commanded that there go forth to 
this august highland an army with me, men of the choicest 
of the whole land ; miners, artificers, quarrymen, artists, 
draughtsmen, stone-cutters, gold workers, treasurers of 
Pharaoh, of every department and office of the king's house, 
united behind me. I made the highlands a river and the 
upper valleys a waterway." 




A FERRY-BOAT ON THE NILE 



CHAPTER IX 



THE WONDERFUL STATUES OF 
MEMNON 

It is early morning in Luxor. Our donkeys are 
being taken across the river Nile. The donkeys are 
used to the ferry. They are made to get into our 
large rowboats and stand side by side crosswise be- 
tween the rowers. On the farther side of the river 
they are tumbled into shallow water to make their 
ow^n way to the shore. There they wait with the 
donkey boys, a boy or man to each donkey, for the 
coming of the various members of our party in 
other rowboats. Sometimes, w^hen the breeze is 

111 



112 The Wonderful Statues of Memnon 

favorable, the triangular sail is set and our boat glides 
quickly over the blue water of the Nile to the farther 
shore. 

Today a visit is to be made to the statues of 
Memnon and to the memorial temples at the foot 
of the western cliflfs. Azir Girges is there with his 




LANDING ON THE RIVER BANK 



faithful donkey. The donkey is so small that the feet 
of the rider nearly touch the ground. 

The start is made toward the west through fields 
of waving grain toward the desert about two miles 
distant. Ours is a large company, for everyone has 
his donkey boy, and there are with us a dozen or 
more girls with earthen jars upon their heads. The 
jars are filled with water from the river. The girls 
trudge on all day through long miles of desert sand, 



The Wonderful Statues of Memnon 113 

hoping to sell the water to those who may be thirsty. 
They have learned a few words of English and they 
hope to win purchasers among the men by such com- 
pliments as: "Nice man, beautiful man, lovely man, 
buy water, buy water." 

During the course of the trip someone asks, "Do 
you like your donkey?" Thinking that Azir is out 
of hearing, the reply is, "We keep the donkey be- 
cause we like the boy." 

"Thank you, thank you, sir, I tries to be a good 
boy," Azir is heard to say. A little while afterward 
Azir asks us to get him a pair of shoes when we go 
to Assuan. 

"But how shall we know the size you wear?" 

"I show you," he says; and, sitting down by the 
path, for we are in the grain fields again, he pulls 
a long spear of grass and measures his foot from toe 
to heel that we may know the size of the shoe re- 
quired. The shoes are purchased and given to Azir 
upon the return trip from Assuan. 

You will remember that the beautiful grain fields 
through which we are now passing are covered with 
water during the summer season. It is then that the 
Nile overflows its banks, and if we could look off 
over the country during July, August, and Septem- 
ber, it would very much resemble the next picture. 

Here we see the water extending far away to the 
very edge of the desert. The water is muddy, and 
when it drains away and sinks into the ground it 
will leave the little coating of mud that not only 



114 The Wonderful Statues of Memnon 

makes the soil rich but adds a little to its depth. It 
adds but very, very little each year, yet it has con- 
tinued to add that little during so many long years 
that the land is much higher than it was in the time 
of the ancient Egyptians. 




ifaitnitTniiiiiBiiiiTifii 



ACmaSr-* 




STATUES OP MEMXON AT TIME OF OVERFLOW OF NILE 

Do you see the great seated figures rising out of 
the water? They are called the Statues of Memnon. 
At one time there was a temple just back of them. 

The avenue leading up to the temple lay between 
the figures. Some great king had them put there 
when the temple was built. It must have been a very 
great temple, but it has entirely disappeared and the 
land is now at a higher level than when the temple 
was built. 

These statues are very large indeed. Just think! 



The Wonderful Statues of Memnon 115 




THE GKEAT STATUES OF MEMNON 



The leg from the foot to the knee measures twenty 
feet and the middle finger of each hand is four and 
a half feet long. You may imagine how large they 
are when you look at Azir Girges standing near 
them with his donkey. Each one of the statues was 
made from a single block of stone, which is now 
much broken. They are sixty-five feet high and each 
weighs over a thousand tons. 

If the statues could speak and tell us all they have 
seen, what a story they would have to relate! They 
were here when Thebes was a great and glorious 
city, with very many beautiful temples and palaces. 
Thousands of men and women, boys and girls, who 
lived here, must have seen those temples and pal- 



116 The PVonderfiil Statues of Memnofi 

aces often, and wondered at their great size. Beau- 
tiful processions, too, have crossed the plains in front 
of them. They have w^itnessed many gorgeous fes- 
tivals held in honor of kings of ancient Thebes. 

The great city has vanished. Its people have 
passed away. But these statues seem as everlasting 
as the hills. They look out over the world as if pene- 
trating the future with their steadfast gaze. Few 
other statues erected by the hands of men seem so 
filled with life. Side by side they have sat through 
the ages, but the secrets of time they will never tell. 

Back of the statues we see the sandstone cliffs of 
the desert. They seem to be filled with caves, and 
some of the caves have openings like doors. They 
are tombs that were made when the people of the 
ancient city were very wealthy. 




SANDSTONE CLIFFS OP THK DESEllT 



The Wonderful Statues of Memnon 117 

Everyone who could afford it prepared a strong 
tomb for his last resting-place. It was thought to be 
more important than to have a good house while liv- 
ing. The tombs were built in the mountains of the 
desert on the west side of the Nile. They were placed 
in the west because the sun, the giver of life, seemed 
to go down into the western desert every night. As 
the sun is born anew every morning, so the Egyp- 
tians thought that all people would live again. 

Some of the tombs are wonderfully made. They 
are cut far into the mountains and have many rooms 
decorated in color. Many of them when new con- 
tained furniture, food offerings, and articles for 
personal use. 

A short distance from the Statues of Memnon are 
the ruins of the great temple called the Ramesseum, 
which was built by the renowned king Ramses II. 
You can see that temple and a broken statue in the 
next picture. 

The temple is sujrounded by sand, for it was built 
on the edge of the desert away from the annual over- 
flow of the Nile. There were many rooms in it and 
a great many stone columns supported its roof, 
which was also of stone. 

You remember that Ramses had many great stat- 
ues made of himself. The largest one was set up 
in front of the Ramesseum. The statue was of gran- 
ite cut from the quarry at Assuan where we saw the 
obelisk the day we rode out over the desert high- 
way. That was the day we met the caravan of 



118 The Wonderful Statues of Memnon 

camels coming from the Sudan of Central Africa. 
In the picture we can see part of the great statue. 
It was probably thrown down and broken at the time 
of an earthquake. A man stands on the crown of 
the head. If that was the crown think how large 
the head and the whole statue must have been. 




THE TIKUKEX STATfE OF P.AMSE 



The statue was nearly sixty feet high and weighed 
two million pounds. And it was of one piece of 
stone! We wonder that men were able to cut it out 
of the quarry, move it to the temple, and place it 
on end. Perhaps a canal was cut from the river to 
the temple. The statue could then have been car- 
ried all the way on a great flat boat; but we shall 
probably never understand how the statue could have 
been set up on end by a people without machines to 
aid them. 




STOBEHOTJSES AND THE DESEET 



CHAPTER X 

TEMPLES AND STOREHOUSES 

QUEEN HATASU'S TEMPLE 

Just a little way from the Ramesseum we find men 
uncovering another temple. They are carrying earth 
away in baskets. They will not use wheelbarrows 
under any circumstances. They think it is easier and 
more manly to carry the earth in baskets; besides it 
has always been carried that way in Egypt. 

The men have already uncovered parts of stone 
columns. The columns must have been very high, 
for they supported the roof that has now disappeared. 
There is much writing on them, and from it some day 
we may learn the story of the building of the tem- 
ple. 

Very near this temple and that of Ramses are some 

119 



120 Temples and Storehouses 

strange rooms built of sun-dried brick. You see that 
each room has a roof in the form of an arch. The 
rooms are very large and were probably used as 
great storehouses. Grain may have been kept in 
them. They were probably filled in time of plenty 
and kept filled for future use. It may be that gran- 
aries of this kind were stored with corn when Joseph 
was governor of Egypt and provided for the time of 
famine that he felt sure w^ould come. 

The following words, written as long ago as Jo- 
seph's time, were believed to have been spoken by the 
Egyptian god Ra regarding the two lands of Upper 
and Lower Egypt: 

"I give thee a great Nile, I endow for thee the two lands 
with wealth, produce, food and luxuries, giving plentj^ in 
every place where thou treadest. I give to thee constant har- 
vests, to feed the Two Lands at all times ; the sheaves thereof 
are like the sands of the shore, their granaries approach 
heaven, and their grain heaps are like mountains." 

We are now going on farther, across the long 
stretch of sand to the mountains in the distance. But 
let us look for a moment at a picture of the near-by 
cliffs. Do you see the sand in a steep hill reaching 
half-way up the face of the rock? Some of that sand 
may have drifted over the top but much of it was 
formed by the crumbling away of the face of the cliff. 
Little pieces no larger than particles of sand have 
been breaking off for hundreds of years and thus 
forming loose sand. 

Now if any temple had been built close to the 



Temples and Storehouses 



121 




DEK-EL-BAHRI, QUEEN HATASU'S TEJIPLE 



cliff it would have been covered in time, would it 
not? That is just what did happen at the base of the 
mountain that we are approaching as we ride across 
the glistening sand fields. 

How high the cliffs are! At their very base we 
see a temple. It was built by order of the great 
Queen Hatasu. You remember that it was this queen 
who had the beautiful obelisk erected at Karnak. 

This temple of Queen Hatasu is called Der-el- 
Bahri. Long after the time of Hatasu people did 
nothing to keep the temple in repair. They did not 
even remove the sand that crumbled off the cliffs or 
that drifted over them. So in time this temple was 
covered with sand and was forgotten. 



122 



Temples and Storehouses 



The temple remained covered for many long cen- 
turies. A few years ago it was discovered. Men and 
boys were immediately set to work with little bas- 
kets, to remove the sand that had concealed it. While 
one man beat time that all might work together, the 
baskets were filled, carried away, and emptied. It 




PICTUKK-WKITIAU, DEK-KL-BAIIKI 



took many months to carry all the sand and earth 
away. When that had been done the floors of the 
rooms wxre swept clean; and now, when we go to 
Egypt we can walk in the very rooms that Queen 
Hatasu walked in more than thirty-five hundred 
years ago. 

As in other temples, the walls of the rooms of 
Der-el-Bahri are covered with picture-writing. The 
pictures were drawn on the walls and then the art- 



Temples and Storehouses 123 

ists cut away the stone so that the pictures would 
stand out in relief, just like those in the photograph. 
The pictures were then covered with color, and, 
strangely enough, much of that color still remains 
on the stone walls. 

In the illustration we see a company of soldiers. 
They appear to be dressed in the skins of animals. 
Each carries a spear and a shield. Three of the 
men have axes in their hands. Probably all have 
axes, but we cannot see them because they are be- 
hind the shields. When Egyptian artists wanted to 
show many men or animals in one picture they drew 
one just in front of the other. Above the soldiers 
the story of the picture is told in Egyptian hiero- 
glyphics. 

EGYPTIAN BOATS 

The next illustration is very different from those 
we have already seen. It is a picture of a boat such 
as was used in the time of Queen Hatasu. The 
queen sent boats and many men to the east coast of 
Africa to get products that were of great value to 
her kingdom. She sent them to a place called the 
Land of Punt. If we could read the writing that 
we see on the walls all around the boats we should 
learn a large part of the story of that famous expedi- 
tion. 

The Land of Punt was on the east coast of Africa. 
It was a long and perilous voyage thither for the 
vessels of that time. The queen sent many presents 



124 Temples and Storehouses 

to the rulers of Punt and received in return various 
kinds of precious woods, incense, ivory, ebony, gold 
and silver, birds and skins of animals. 

In the picture-writing numerous boats are repre- 
sented. On the central boat we see many rowers, 
but there is a mast in each boat, with a sail to be 



PICTURES OF BOATS SENT TO LAND OF PUNT 



used in a favorable wind. Many ropes support the 
sail. On the prow of each boat we see the pilot giv- 
ing directions to a sailor. On the stern of the boat 
at the left is a large oar used for steering. The 
water is represented by vertical zigzag lines. The 
water is filled with fish of different kinds. So the 



Temples and Storehouses 125 

wall of the temple is like an open book and from it 
we may read a story of the reign of Queen Hatasu. 

"Thej^ loaded the ships very heavily with marvels of the 
country of Punt; all goodly fragrant woods of God's land, 
with fresh myrrh trees, with ebony and pure ivory, with gold, 
with cinnamon wood, with apes, monkeys, dogs, and with 
skins of the southern panther, with natives and their chil- 
dren. Never was brought the like of this for any king who 
has been since the beginning." 

So dependent were the ancient Egyptians upon 
their sacred river that they dwelt close to its banks. 
For that reason much of their traveling for long dis- 
tances north or south w^as done in boats. 

Thebes, the capital city of Upper Egypt, was sev- 
eral hundred miles up the Nile above Memphis, the 
capital of Lower Egypt. The Egyptians used boats 
a great deal and made many pictures of them on walls 
of temples and tombs. In the next picture, which has 
been much injured, we see a small boat with seem- 
ingly very large people in it. The sail is supported 
on a slender mast. It is a peculiar sail and of a 
very interesting pattern. In reality the boat was not 
so small in proportion to the men. The picture was 
drawn as it is to attract attention to the hunters. 
They are spearing a hippopotamus which, like the 
boat, is made on a small scale. 

Occasionally, the Egyptians placed small boats in 
their tombs. We see such a boat pictured on page 
127. The people of Egypt were so accustomed to 
seeing and using boats that they thought the sun-god 



126 



Temples and Storehouses 




PICTUIIE OF A BOAT ON A TEMI'LE WALL 



must travel through the heavens in a golden boat. 
They thought, too, that the soul after death must 
travel in a boat to its last resting-place. The soul, 
in the form of a mummy, is here seen seated under a 



Temples and Storehouses 



127 




MODEL BOAT THliEE THOUSAND YEAK.S OLD 



canopy. It is being taken across the river to the 
land of the setting sun. 

The boat in the picture has a mast and a cloth 
sail. The little images of wood are the sailors of 
the boat. Some of the sailors are using oars. Others 
seem to be giving orders. It was a strange idea to 
put a boat like this in a tomb, but it was the symbol 
of a beautiful thought of life for the soul beyond 
the grave. And now, after three thousand years, 
this boat and other boats have been found and placed 
in museums for people, among them school children 
of today, to see and study, that they may understand 
the life and thought of the ancient dwellers in the 
Nile valley. 



CHAPTER XI 

AxMULETS, ORNAMENTS, AND JEWELRY 

If we look again at the photograph of the temple 
of Der-el-Bahri, we shall find that it is close to rock 
cliffs. We could climb those cliffs by a narrow path, 
but we should find the path very steep indeed. What 
we want to do is to go over into the narrow valley 
beyond the top of the mountain. We are told it 
was there that the Egyptian kings and queens who 
lived more than a thousand years before Christ built 
their tombs. 

The better way to reach the tombs will be to get 
on our donkeys again and go round the cliffs by the 
desert road. So we send for Azir Girges and the 
other donkey boys and begin our long hot ride to 
the valley of the tombs of the kings. 

Do you know that natives follow the traveler al- 
most everywhere in Egypt, begging him to buy some 
little trifle which they have found in the sand about 
temples or tombs? Some of those objects actually 
were made long ago at the time the temples and 
tombs were built. Many, however, have been made 
to deceive the purchaser and are merely modern 
copies. 

128 



Amulets f Ornaments, and Jewelry 



129 



In the picture, men are tempting a would-be pur- 
chaser to buy their treasures. Some of the orna- 
ments are carved in the form of a beetle and are 
called ''scarabs." In ancient Egypt it was a very 
common thing to use scarabs mounted on finger- 
rings. They were also worn around the neck. When 




NATIVES SELLIXC AMULETS 



a person died and was buried, a scarab was placed 
over his heart. 

You know that the ancient Egyptians believed that 
the body would at some time after death live again. 
They believed in the resurrection of the body to a 
new life. 

Now the real beetle was in the habit of laying a 
very small tgg^ which it covered with mud. The 
beetle then rolled the little ball of mud enclosing the 



130 Amulets, Ornaments, and Jewelry 




SCARAB BELONGING TO SETI I 



Qgg away from the Nile, so that it would not be de- 
stroyed. In time the egg hatched, and a new beetle 
was formed. 

The Egyptians, perhaps, did not know that an egg 
was inside the ball of mud. What they did know 
was, that a new life came out of the mud ball. They 
thought the coming forth of that new life very won- 
derful, and they made it a symbol of the new life 
which they believed all would have at some time 
after death. 

Of course, in a new life, the heart must first give 
strength to the body; so the Egyptians placed one 
of their scarabs, the symbol of life, over the heart of 
the dead. The scarabs were made of clay, stone, or 
ivory. On the flat side is a prayer asking the heart 
not to bear witness against the soul at the day of 
judgment. 



Amulets, Ornaments, and Jewelry 



\^ 




SCARAB OF SETI I ENLARGED 



The photographs show two views of a large 
scarab; one is the side view and the other is the 
lower face. On this face the two names' of the 
king Seti I are written and repeated many times. 
Each name is written in an ellipse and it is called '^. 



132 Amulets, Ornaments, and Jewelry 

cartouche. The peculiar drawings that spell out the 
two names of Seti I in the first two ellipses are alter- 
nately repeated in all the other ellipses. Seti I was 
one of the greatest kings of Egypt. He lived about 
thirteen hundred years before Christ and was the 
father of Ramses II, whose statue is show^n on page 
104. In the space at the top of the scarab there are 
two hawks, which are symbols of the sun-god Ra. 

The small scarabs used on finger-rings often had 
a name on the flat side and were used as seals. There 
was a hole from end to end in each scarab so that 
it might be placed on a w^ire. It could thus be easily 
mounted in a ring and turned so that the name on 
the flat side could be used as a seal. 

It was very necessary for a man to have with him 
a seal, as it was by means of this that he signed his 
name. Rings with seals were made of copper, 
silver, or gold. The ring given by Pharaoh to 
Joseph very likely was a scarab mounted in gold. 
Probably Joseph used it as a seal in signing his name 
as governor of Egypt. 

The following words help us to understand that 
the arts and crafts received attention as long ago as 
when Joseph lived in Egypt: 

"I taught every craft which had been neglected in this 
city, in order that my name might be excellent upon every 
monument which I made." 

"It is decked with eternal works, and well-made ornaments 
in stones set in gold, with true gems." 

The ancient Egyptians were very fond of beau- 



Amulets, Ornaments, and Jewelry 



133 




EGYPTIAN JEWELRY THIRTY-FIVE HUXDRED YEARS OLD 

tiful ornaments. They wrought them in gold, sil- 
ver, and precious stones. Countless numbers of 
ornaments and jewels have been found buried with 
Egyptian mummies. They include finger-rings, 
necklaces, pendants, earrings, bracelets, diadems, 
and chains. Gold ornaments have been found beau- 
tifully executed, though made by gold workers who 
lived long ago. 

The Egyptians did not use the diamond, ruby, and 
sapphire, which are so highly prized by our jewel- 
ers of today, but they did use the emerald, ame- 
thyst, pearl, turquoise, garnet, and other semi-pre- 
cious stones. The stones were perfectly cut. Great 
numbers were used as beads and made into neck- 



134 Amulets, Ornaments, and Jewelry 

laces. While the finest jewelry belonged to the rich, 
yet everybody wore ornaments of some kind and 
nearly every little girl had her necklace and bracelets. 

The ancient Egyptians were not content, how- 
ever, to use ornaments merely for the sake of decora- 
tion. Back of their use was some thought, either 
spiritual or superstitious. They believed that mis- 
fortunes or evils could be overcome by wearing cer- 
tain objects; just as today some people think that 
wearing amber beads will prevent sore throat or that 
wearing a hare's foot on the person will bring good 
luck. 

The Egyptians did not believe that when a man 
died he would leave his earthly possessions behind 
him. They felt that he would have need of them in 
another world. Therefore, the ornaments of his per- 
son were carefully placed on his body after death. 
Especially those amulets were used which brought 
him into favor with his gods or warded ofif evils that 
he might meet on his long journey in the under- 
world. 

The lotus was the most popular form of ornament 
and is found in every conceivable design. To the 
Egyptians it was the symbol of resurrection and was 
therefore most sacred to them. 

Scarabs, which represented the beetle, were very 
numerous. The beetle was, like the lotus, a symbol 
of resurrection. Both the lotus and the scarab are 
seen in the picture of ancient Egyptian jewelry. 
The scarabs were made of clay, stone, or gold and 



Amulets, Ornaments, and Jewelry 



135 




EGYPTIAN AMULETS 



were used in great numbers for finger-rings, brace- 
lets, earrings, and pendants. When the scarab or 
any other object is worn upon the body as a symbol 
of good luck or to avert the evil eye, it is called an 
amulet. 

The illustrations show several forms of amulets. 
One of them, shaped somewhat like a small column 
with bars across it, is the symbol of faithfulness. It 
is called a nilometer. The bars represent the level 
of the Nile at its annual overflow. As the Nile was 
faithful in watering the land almost every year 
through centuries of time, so the wearer of the nil- 
ometer was supposed to be faithful in the afifairs of 
life. 



136 



Amulets, Ornaments, and Jewelry 



Many amulets made of semi-precious stones were 
shaped like birds and animals, or like the heart, or 
the images of the gods. They were worn upon the 
body with the belief that they would bring good luck, 
or ward off sickness or evil. The Uta, or sacred eye, 
was worn upon the wrist or the arm, as a protection 
against the bite of serpents and against words spoken 
in anger or envy. That anger was to be carefully 
avoided and another's feelings considered, is illus- 
trated by these ancient teachings: 

"Beware of giving pain by the words of thy mouth and 
make not thyself to be feared." 

"Do not eat bread In the presence of one who stands and 
waits without putting forth thy hand toward the loaf for 
im. 




THE KOAD TO THE TUiiiis 




THE CLIFFS AXD TOMBS 



CHAPTER XII 



THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS 



SACRED AVALL-PAINTINGS 

Those people just ahead of us also are going to 
the tombs of the kings. Oh, how hot it is! The sun 
shines brightly from morning till night. It burns 
almost like fire. There is not a blade of grass, not 
a shrub, nothing that is green and has life. 

Rocks and sand glisten and glimmer so in the sun- 
light that we are almost blinded. Azir Girges and 
the other donkey boys run barefooted behind the 
donkeys. They try to hurry the poor animals onward 
through the intense heat. 

137 



138 



The Tombs of the Kings 




AKKIVAL AT THE TOMBS 



At last we reach the head of the valley. A large 
party of tourists have arrived before us. They are 
standing close to the opening of a tomb. There seem 
to be tombs everywhere. 

But it is noon. We must have luncheon. We are 
very tired and must get out of the terrible heat of 
the sun. We have brought our luncheon with us, so 
we walk a little way into a tomb and sit down on the 
floor to eat and rest. 

Do you see the children at the door of the tomb? 
These tombs are cut in the solid rock. Some of them 
extend into the rock for a distance of several hun- 
dred feet. Their passageways slant downward and 
in some of them are several flights of stairs. 



The Tombs of the Kings 



139 




EUYI'TIAN GIKLS AT K.N'TIJANCK TU ANCIKNT ToMB 

Some tombs have rooms on each side of the pas- 
sageway. At the very end of the passageway is the 
room in which the king or queen was once buried in 



140 



The Tombs of the Kings 




TOMB OF KING SETI I COVERED WITH WALL PAIXTIXGS 



a great stone coffin. After burial, the tombs were 
closed tightly with blocks of stone and everything 
possible was done to hide them. The kings did not 



The Tombs of the Kings 141 

wish their tombs broken into, for fear that their royal 
bodies might be destroyed by robbers. 

A picture has been taken by flashlight of the tomb 
of King Seti I. He was the father of the proud 
King Ramses II, who had so many large statues of 
himself made during his lifetime. 

If you should go to Egypt you would find that 
some of the tombs have been lighted by electricity, 
so that visitors may study the interesting decorations 
on their walls without the use of torches, which would 
blacken the pictures. 

You would find the walls covered with very 
strange drawings in rows, one above another. The 
pictures are colored. They represent the thought of 
the ancient Egyptians regarding the judgment of the 
soul and the many trials it must undergo to become 
pure and holy. They are very sacred paintings. 

Hymns of praise also are written upon the walls, 
for it was believed that after many trials the soul 
would be rewarded with eternal life. The tomb, 
therefore, was not in the belief of the Egyptians a 
final resting-place. In time the soul would become 
a pure spirit and take upon itself a new and sacred 
life. It would unite with the god of light and with 
those who had gone before. 

While they were living, the Egyptians took good 
care to provide themselves with tombs. When they 
died, their bodies were first very carefully em- 
balmed and wrapt in cloth, that they might be in 



142 The Tombs of the Kings 

perfect condition for the soul to re-enter at some time 
in the far future. The bodies, which we call mum- 
mies, were then placed in elaborate wooden coffins 
brilliantly decorated in color. When we visit muse- 
ums we often see coffins that have been taken from 
Egyptian tombs and placed in the museums for us 
to study. They are called mummy-cases. They are 
covered with pictures and with picture-writing tell- 
ing stories similar to those upon the walls of the 
tomb. 

HOW EGYPTIAN CHILDREN LEARNED TO DRAW 

Children in school today have lessons in draw- 
ing; do you know that children in Egypt three 
and four thousand years ago also had lessons in 
drawing? There were teachers who made drawings 
for their pupils. The pupils copied them over and 
over again until they could make designs with accu- 
racy and care. 

They began to draw on slabs of limestone and on 
drawing-boards that had been covered with red or 
white stucco. A reed was steeped in w^ater until the 
fibres on one end separated, making a very good 
brush for painting. 

The young art students studied from life also, and 
in time were able to make very good drawings and 
paintings from animals and birds. A great many 
such drawings and paintings by artists have been 
found on the walls of tombs and temples and on 
mummy-cases and papyrus. 



The Tombs of the Kings 



143 



Many palettes have been found. They are of 
wood and are oblong in shape. There is a groove in 
the palette in which to lay brushes, and hollow places 
for colors. Black, red, yellow, and blue were the 
colors most used. The pupil had a mortar and pes- 
tle for grinding his colors, and a cup of water in 




AN UNFIXISHED DKAWING Ol'" A liAJI 



which to dip and wash his brush, just as children 
have today; only now colors come nicely ground 
and prepared. 

The pupil sat cross-legged before his copy, with 
the palette in his left hand. The drawing was first 
made with black lines and corrected by the teacher 
in red. In time some of the children learned to 
draw animals, birds, flowers, and designs, with great 
accuracy and beauty. 



144 The Tombs of the Kings 

In the picture of the ram we see how the Egyptian 
artist worked. He made strong drawings in outline 
just as we do now. You can even see where he cor- 
rected his drawings by a second line. After the dec- 
oration had been sketched upon the surface of the 
stone, the entire design was colored. All the dark 
and some of the light parts in the picture of a room 
at the end of a tomb show where the color was ap- 
plied. This is another illustration of an offering 
being made. All the men are making offerings. The 
altar is loaded with food, and above it are clusters of 
the sacred lotus. Some of the men hold lotus flowers 
in their hands. 

It seems strange that the Egyptians, who could 
draw exceedingly well, should have drawn men stand- 
ing in very unnatural positions. They drew the face 
from the side, as the outline was more easily made 
than the full front view. But they drew the shoul- 
ders with full front view so as to show both shoulders 
and both arms. The body was drawn as if turned 
part way round. The legs were drawn as seen from 
the side, as was the face. Thus the figures of men 
appear very much twisted. 

The Egyptians drew men in action, however, in 
a very different way, much as we do now. Men are 
shown doing al] kinds of work on the farm, and the 
different animals are exceedingly well drawn. Men 
are hunting and fishing. There are also soldiers, 
sailors, and craftsmen represented. 

The Egyptians were able to make all of their 



The Tombs of the Kings 



145 




I'AIXTIXC; (IX WALL Ol" AX AX( IKNT Tn.Mli 



drawings with wonderful skill. Of course, young 
people had to take lessons of older artists who had 
learned how to make the designs that cover the walls 
of the temples and tombs, that in time they might 
do similar work. 



146 



The Tombs of the Kings 



The Egyptians did not use light and shade. Every- 
thing was first drawn in line, and then the painters 
put on broad flat washes of color. They did not 
try to imitate every detail of natural objects. 

Water is always shown by a perfectly flat tint of 
blue, which is usually covered with zigzag lines in 
black. Men are painted reddish brown; and women, 
pale yellow. 

In all their designs the Egyptians used very bril- 
liant colors. They knew well how to use pure col- 
ors side by side so as to produce a beautiful effect. 
We may see Egyptian color designs in many of our 
museums. 

The Egyptians used very bright colors in dark 
rooms, as in such places strong color is needed to 
please the eye. They used bright colors on walls ex- 
posed to strong light also, because it takes much color 
in strong sunlight to satisfy the eye. 




A.V AlH'CIK^X KGYPTIAN DUA\VI>;G 



The Tombs of the Kings 



147 



These words of an ancient writing help us to un- 
derstand how the Egyptians loved color: 

"The sun which was from the beginning, rose like a hawk 
from the midst of its lotus bud. When the doors of its 
leaves open in sapphire-colored brilliants it has divided the 
night from the day." 




AX ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COUCH 



EGYPTIAX FURNITURE 



The houses and palaces occupied by the Egyptians 
of long ago have crumbled into dust. Almost the 
only things that remain to tell us what was in those 
homes have been found in the Egyptian tombs. 

There are many rooms in most of the tombs and 
their decorations are in bright colors. They often 
contained furniture such as we use today and some 
of it was very beautiful in design and execution. 

We find in the tombs of Egypt such familiar things 
as beds, tables, chairs, couches, trunks, embroidery 



148 



The Tombs of the Kings 




AA AiSCIENT EUirXIAN CHAIU 



Stands, vases, mirrors, fans with handles of gold, and 
even chariots with whips and harness. There are 
cushions also for couches and for chairs. In the 
tomb of one of the queens was recently found an 
embroidery stand painted blue, with designs traced 
in gilt and inlaid with ivory. All the objects found 
are very beautiful in shape and design. Indeed, 
some of the chairs and couches are so perfect that 
they may well serve as models for us to copy and 
use in our own homes today. 

All the furniture is beautifully made. The joints 



The Tombs of the Kings 



149 




AX ANCIENT EGYPTIAN EMr.TtOiniUlY STANU 



are fastened with wooden pegs. Nails were not in- 
vented until modern times. Beds and chair seats 
were covered with braided material. Chair seats 
also were covered with leather. The beds are in the 
form of couches. Their w^ooden frames are grace- 
fully curved and their legs and head pieces delicately 
carved and gilded. All the designs are religious in 
character. 



ISO The Tofnbs of the Kings 

It must be remembered that these ancient people 
were very religious. Their religion was a part of 
their everyday life. They wove designs in their fab- 
rics telling the story of the gods whom they wor- 
shiped. The carved designs on their furniture also 
related to their religious beliefs. We know that the 
women of the court, including the queen, wove beau- 
tiful patterns and embroidered with colored threads 
the fine textiles used to decorate the palaces. Those 
textiles were rich in color and rare in quality. As 
there was no machinery in those days all the cloth 
was woven on looms by hand and embroidered by 
hand. The beautiful rugs, carpets, and hangings thus 
made were used to decorate the dwellings. 

The Egyptians believed that the soul lived in the 
tomb as really as in life. They therefore put into the 
tomb chamber objects that were necessary to the liv- 
ing person. Thus their tombs are found to contain 
the chairs, beds, and other objects that belonged to 
them when living. Many of the tombs have been 
opened and their beautiful contents are found in 
good condition because of the dry atmosphere of 
the desert. They are most interesting to study, and 
help us to imagine how an Egyptian house may have 
looked when furnished. We may be surprised to 
learn that the ancient Egyptians had quite as beau- 
tiful and comfortable furniture in their homes as we 
have today. 




a?HE SUEZ CANAL 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE CITY OF CAIRO 

STREET SCENES, SHOPS, AND CR^^FTSMEN 

There are not many large towns in Egypt. We 
have seen how most of its people live in mud vil- 
lages. But there are, of course, some large cities. 
The three largest are at the corners of the great 
Delta. 

You know that the valley of Egypt is like the let- 
ter Y, or like a flower with a very long stem, the 
stem being the river Nile with the narrow strip of 
rich soil on each side. The upper part of the Y 
is the Delta where the Nile spreads out into many 
channels running to the sea. 

At the left upper corner is the city of Alexandria, 

151 



152 The City of Cairo 

situated upon the Mediterranean sea. At the right 
upper corner is the city of Port Said, which is also 
on the Mediterranean just where the Suez Canal 
connects the Mediterranean sea with the Hed sea. 
That is the place where many great ships stop be- 
fore entering the canal. 

The canal is nearly one hundred miles long. 
Ships passing through the canal have to go very 
slowly and when two ships meet, the one that is sig- 
naled first must stop and must wait for the other to 
go by. If the ships should pass each other when both 
are in motion they would make such big waves that 
the sides of the canal would in time be washed away. 
In the picture we see one of the ships, also the rail- 
road that runs down to another great city at the other 
angle of the Delta. 

That other city is called Cairo. It is the largest 
city in Egypt. Over half a million of people live in 
Cairo. But those people are not of one race. They 
dififer greatly one from another in appearance. 
Their costumes are not alike; their language is not 
the same. They do not work in the same way. We 
find in the streets of the city Turks, Arabs, Moors, 
Algerians, Jews, Negroes, Europeans, and native 
Egyptians. The native Egyptians, by the way, are 
called fellaheen. They are the people that we find 
in the mud villages throughout Egypt. 

The eastern part of the town is much the oldest. Its 
streets are poorly paved and too narrow for a carriage. 
Men, women, children, and animals crowd one an- 



The City of Cairo 



153 




A STREET IN CAIRO 



Other in those very narrow streets. The noisy cries 
of venders and shopkeepers, and the jingling coins 
of the money-changers, together with the braying of 
donkeys, the moaning of camels, and the barking of 
dogs give the streets an air of wild confusion, It is 



154 The City of Cairo 

with difficulty that we make our way through the 
crowd. 

But these streets of Cairo we find full of interest. 
We might spend a great many days in them and 
never tire of their strange and amusing scenes. Great 
numbers of little shops are filled with all sorts of ob- 
jects arranged to attract the visitor. There are beau- 
tiful rugs and prayer carpets, shining brass and cop- 
per vessels, and gold, silver, and tinsel ornaments 
heaped about so as to make a great display of color. 
The keeper of a little shop sits cross-legged upon 
a rug-covered platform. He can reach most of his 
goods without changing his seat. 

The makers of jewelry and other small wares work 
in their little shops seated on the platform close to 
the pushing, jostling crowd. They do not seem dis- 
turbed by the many passers-by or fear that any of 
their wares, though often of gold and silver, will be 
stolen from them. 

In some of the narrow lanes there is the ring of 
metal in one loud continuous clang, as men beat 
sheets of copper and brass into all sorts of pleasing 
shapes for use in the household. On market days, 
which are Mondays and Thursdays, it is almost im- 
possible for us to walk through the narrow streets. 
But it is worth the effort that is required to do so, 
because there are many most amusing scenes on every 
hand. Peddlers elbow their way through the crowd, 
shouting loudly their wares, which are either carried 
on small tables or are hung about their necks. 



The City of Cairo 



155 




A SUOP IN CAIKO 



Auctioneers, often with the goods that they have 
to sell upon their heads, hurry up and down the street, 
shouting the offer of the last bidder. Coffee-sellers 
and water-carriers are everywhere. Everybody seems 



156 The City of Cairo 

to be talking or shouting, and elbowing his way on 
this side or on that, without seemingly following any 
special direction. 

Whatever is made and sold by these people is well 
made, yet their work is done with very simple and 
old-fashioned tools. In America we have lathes on 
which to turn chair-legs, balusters, and objects of 
similar shape and use, but in the old streets of Cairo 
we find men seated on the ground, turning the piece 
of wood to be used, first one way and then the other, 
by using a bow and string. 

The stick of wood is fastened at both ends. The 
string passes around the wood and is drawn tight to 
the bow. Then, by pushing the bow forward and 
backward, the piece of wood is turned around quite 
rapidly. A chisel is held firmly against the wood, 
cutting it into the shape of the model or pattern de- 
sired. Sometimes the workman sits on the ground 
and uses the toes of one foot to help guide the chisel. 
It is surprising what a perfect copy of a model he can 
make with his simple tools. 

Above the shops are the balconies and latticed win- 
dows of the houses. The latticed windows are made 
in interesting patterns. The women of the house- 
hold can look out through the open spaces but peo- 
ple of the street cannot look in. 

The Mohammedan women do not permit their 
faces to be seen by the stranger. When they appear 
upon the street they wear a peculiar veil like that 
in the picture. A device that fits the nose holds the 



The City of Cairo 



157 




A MOHAMMEDAN WOMAN 



veil in place. It cannot be very comfortable, but of 
course as they wear it so much, the Egyptian women 
soon get used to it. For a woman to wear a veil thus 
fastened is but one of the strange customs of the East. 

MOHAMMEDAN SCHOOLS 

Of course wx must visit one of the Mohammedan 
schools. There are many schools in Cairo and in 
the other cities along the north coast of Africa. The 
pupils sit on the floor with their teacher either in 
their midst or on a raised platform before them. 
The teacher sometimes sits on a beautiful rug. On 
the blackboard in the picture and on page 160 we see 



158 



The City of Cairo 




A MOIIASIMEUAN SCHOOL 



the peculiar but very beautiful writing of the Mo- 
hammedans. It must be very difficult to learn the 
meaning of all its little marks and complex forms. 

One of the boys has made a drawing on his slate. 
He is turning it so that we can see his design. Each 
of the boys wears a cap called a fez. Those caps are 
worn only by the Turkish Mohammedans. Notice 
that the boys have taken ofi their shoes so as not to 
soil the rug. Mohammedans are never seen in the 
street, shop, or mosque with the head uncovered, and 
they always remove their shoes upon entering a house 
or mosque. 

In the other photograph we see a great number of 
students. They are in a university. The building 



The City of Cairo 



159 




STUDENTS IN THE CAIRO UNIVERSITY 



has been used as a school for one thousand years. 
There are about eight thousand students who attend 
this university. They do not pay fees. The teach- 
ers receive no salaries. They must support them- 
selves by private teaching and by copying books. 

The students sit in a circle on the floor around the 
teacher. There are a great many teachers and as 
many circles. Often the students study aloud, at 
the same time swaying their bodies backward and 
forward. When many classes are studying aloud 
there is great noise and seeming confusion. The 
students must learn to repeat long chapters in the 
Koran, which is the Mohammedan Bible. Their 
studies relate largely to their Bible and to law, lan- 
guage, and poetry. The page from a small Mo- 
hammedan book is very beautifully written 



N . '^s* 



® Sita'bji'^^5 » Op^- 







/vj^i^ •>*-^ty-' ® -(j^-^ ^L^ ^-^^ 






^0u^<j^ ®^.ii^a 






A FAGK FKOM A MUIIAMMEUAN BOUK 



The City of Cairo 



161 




& ^'H u 



I 15^,1 






^ 



VIEW OF CAIRO AND THE PYRAMIDS 



A SUNSET IN EGYPT 



If we make our way through the crowded streets 
to the citadel high above Cairo and look off toward 
the west, what shall we see? The city stretches off 
in a mass of flat-roofed buildings. Here and there 
are the minarets of its many Mohammedan mosques. 
From their towers the faithful Mohammedans are 
called to prayer five times every day. 

Beyond the city flows the Nile through fields of 
ripening grain. The surface of the water is dotted 
with the lateen sails of picturesque merchant boats. 
To the right is the great Delta with its quaint vil- 
lages. 

A little to the left, just across the angle of the Y 
and upon the edge of the desert, rise the wonderful 
pyramids, glistening in the sun and seemingly pierc- 



162 



The City of Cairo 



ing the sky with their sharply pointed crests. Here 
at our feet is the modern city of Cairo with its half 
million of people. Just beyond are the pyramids, 
which show the great power of kings who lived five 
thousand years ago. 

There were great cities here, or very near, when 
those pyramids were built. People of that day kept 




A VILLAGE NEAR THE PYRAMIDS 



their shops, worked at their trade, lived, dressed, 
and wore ornaments of gold and silver, much as 
people do today. 

Women and girls went to the same great river, 
daily, for water to supply the needs of the household. 
The merchant boats on the Nile were as picturesque 
then as now. Donkeys and camels carried heavy 
loads of merchandise. People crowded and jostled 



The City of Cairo 



163 



one another in the streets. The great Sphinx carved 
in the rock looked out over it all, just as it does today. 

Truly, Egypt is, and always has been, a wonderful 
country. The valley of the Nile has been a bounti- 
ful granary, producing food for a vast population. 

As we stand upon the wall of the citadel at the close 
of day, we behold the beauty of the sunset. The sun- 




LOOKING ACROSS THE NILE TOWARD THE WEST AT LUXOR 

god of the Egyptians has risen in the east and trav- 
eled daily to the western desert throughout the long, 
long centuries. 

The sun, like a ball of fire, seems to drop into the 
sand of the great desert; the water of the river be- 
comes a field of glorious color; the villages and trees 
are outlined against the western sky; the women and 
the children go to the river to fill their water jars; 



64 



The City of Cairo 




Azn; oiKCEs <ix a ('amei. 



men, women and children hurry from place to place; 
twilight comes on quickly; then suddenly golden 
streams of color shoot up from the western horizon. 
The heavens become all aglow. The scene is beauti- 
ful beyond description. But the color soon fades 
away, the night comes on rapidly, and all is quiet 
upon the river Nile. 

''When thou settest in the western horizon of heaven 
The world is in darkness like the dead. 
Every lion cometh forth from his den, 
All serpents, they sting, 

Darkness reigns. 
The world is in silence. 
He that made them has gone to rest 
In his horizon." 

(From an ancient Egyptian Evening Hymn.) 



CHAPTER XIV 

AZIR GIRGES'S LETTER 

Finally the day comes when we must leave Luxor 
and Azir Girges. The night before starting is beau- 
tiful in the clear light of the full moon. The ruins 
of the great hall of Karnak have been visited for the 
last time. How glorious are the buildings in the 
full light of the moon shining through the clear 
atmosphere! 

On the way back to the hotel, Azir Girges says 
many times, 

"Will you write me a letter, sir, when you go 
home?" 

"What will you write in return?" he is asked. 

"I will write 'Azir Girges'," is his reply. 

"Would you like to go to America, Azir?" 

"Yes, sir, I think America must be a bigger village 
than Luxor." 

An envelope was addressed as he wished and a 
few months afterward the following letter was re- 
ceived from him: 

LuxOR, 6 Aug. 
My Dear Sir, 

I have the honor to inform you that I am your 
dear humble servant Azir Girges since you left Luxor 

165 



166 Azir Girges's Letter 

no letter come to me from you. Also I sent a letter 
in May and I dont know if you took it or no. I am 
longing to see you and always I am thinking of you 
and I am much obliged for thy honor you do me in 
future and to your kind wishes. I hope to send me 
the watch you promised me with best compliments 
to your home circle, your friends and to your self. 
May God grant me to see your face, press your hands, 
hear the sweet accents of your voice, God give you 
a precious life and bless you 

Your humble servant 

AZIR GiRGES 
Scholar American mission School Scholar? 

Now, Azir Girges had not been promised a watch, 
but such a letter would make a strong appeal to any 
one. The next winter he received the coveted watch. 
It made him very proud and happy, and he sent a 
letter showing that he was most grateful. 

Some day we may visit Egypt again and we may 
be sure that Azir will be glad indeed to see us, and 
will do all he can to make our journey through Egypt 
one of rare pleasure. 



WKR 



\Z 1913 



